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BS  2410  .P87  1900  c.l 
Purves,  George  T.  1852-1901 
Christianity  in  the 
apostolic  age 


CHRISTIANITY 


IN 


THE    APOSTOLIC    AGE 


BY 


GEORGE  T.  PURVES,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

RECENTLY  PROFESSOR  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT  LITERATURE  AND  EXEGESIS 
IN  PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


WITH  MAPS 


NEW   YORK 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S   SONS 
1900 


Copj/right,  1900, 
By  Charles  Sceibner's  Sons. 


SEnibtrsitg  Pw8S : 
John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge,  U.  S.  A„ 


Co  mg  Colleagues 

IN  THE  FACULTY  OF 

PRINCETON   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY 

with  whom  i  have  spent  eight  happy  years  devoted  to 

the  study  of  god's  word 

and  whose  friendship  will  not  cease  although 

we  may  no  longer  toil  together 

This  Volume 
is  affectionately  dedicated 


PREFACE 

A  HISTORY  of  Christianity  in  the  Apostolic  Age  should 
begin  with  an  account  of  the  life  and  teachings  of  our 
Lord.  In  the  series,  however,  to  which  the  present 
work  belongs  a  separate  volume  has  been  assigned  to 
"  The  Life  of  Jesus,"  and  intrusted  to  the  competent 
hand  of  Professor  Rhees.  I  have  therefore  only 
touched  upon  the  post-resurrection  period,  so  far  as 
it  was  necessary  to  set  forth  the  immediate  origin 
of  apostolic  Christianity. 

The  purpose  of  this  volume,  like  the  others  in  the 
series,  is  strictly  historical.  At  the  same  time  brief 
accounts  of  the  New  Testament  books,  with  occa- 
sionally a  defence  of  their  right  to  be  classed  with 
apostolic  literature,  have  been  introduced,  both  be- 
cause they  constitute  practically  our  only  sources  for 
the  history  and  because  an  examination  of  them  is 
the  best  means  of  illustrating  the  history  itself.  It  is 
hoped,  also,  that  this  feature  will  make  the  volume 
serviceable  to  a  larger  number  of  readers. 

I  have  not,  except  in  a  few  instances,  attempted  to 
mention  the  many  works  by  which  my  own  studies 
have  been  guided  and  enlightened.     To  have  done  so 


Vni  PREFACE. 

would  have  compelled  me  to  exceed  by  a  copious  use 
of  foot-notes  the  narrow  limits  within  which  I  have 
been  confined.  The  bibliography  at  the  end  of  the 
volume  will,  however,  indicate  the  principal  books 
bearing  upon  the  subject. 

In  writing  upon  a  theme  so  vital  to  the  interests  of 
our  religion,  and  upon  which  a  vast  amount  of  litera- 
ture, representing  all  shades  of  opinion,  has  been  pro- 
duced during  this  century,  I  have,  of  course,  often 
taken  positions  which  readers  of  different  schools  will 
condemn.  The  positions,  however,  have  been  taken 
only  after  careful  and  candid  investigation  ;  and,  if  the 
result  is  to  uphold  in  all  essential  points  the  traditional 
conception  of  apostolic  Christianity,  it  has  been  be- 
cause such  appears  to  me  to  be  the  inevitable  issue  of 
unprejudiced  inquiry.  An  account  of  the  course  which 
the  criticism  of  the  New  Testament  and  the  conse- 
quent constructions  of  the  history  of  the  apostolic  age 
have  taken  in  modern  times  would  show  that  there 
has  been  a  steady  return  on  the  part  of  most  investi- 
gators towards  the  acceptance,  in  the  main,  of  the  dates 
to  which  tradition  has  assigned  the  origin  of  the  books 
out  of  which  apostolic  history  must  be  ascertained. 
This,  indeed,  does  not  prevent  the  most  widely  differ- 
ent theories  both  of  the  interpretation  of  the  books 
and  of  the  forces  which  entered  into  the  formation  of 
Christianity.  But,  in  the  opinion  of  the  author,  it 
does  not  appear  possible,  if  the  dates  of  the  origin  of 


PREFACE.  IX 

the  books  be  thus  establislied,  to  account  for  the  rise 
and  course  of  apostolic  Christianity  except  by  the 
recognition  of  those  supernatural  facts  and  forces  to 
which  the  books  themselves  testify.  The  frank  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  supernatural,  together  with  the 
perception  of  the  no  less  truly  genetic  way  in  which 
the  original  faith  in  Jesus  as  Messiah  was  unfolded 
and  extended,  would  seem  to  be  required  of  the 
historian  wlio  wishes  to  be  faithful  to  his  sources  of 
information  and  to  present  apostolic  Christianity  as 
it  really  was. 

GEORGE   T.   PURVES. 

New  York. 


CONTENTS 


PART   I 

RISE   OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  JERUSALEM 

I 

HISTORICAL  SOURCES 

Sections  1-6.     Pages  3-8 

Section  1 .  The  New  Testament  practically  the  only  source  for 
a  knowledge  of  apostolic  history.  2.  The  last  chapters  of  the 
gospels.  3.  Authorship  of  Acts.  4.  Character  and  composi- 
tion of  Acts.  5.  Historical  value  of  Acts.  6.  Value  of  its 
opening  chapters. 

II 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Sections  7-21.    Pages  9-20 

Section  7.  Christianity  organized  shortly  after  the  death  of 
Jesus.  8.  Effect  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus.  9.  Belief  in 
it  did  not  arise  gradually.  10.  The  witnesses  to  the  resur- 
rection. 11,  12.  The  reports  in  the  gospels  of  the  resurrec- 
tion. 13.  Belief  in  it  not  the  result  of  deception.  14.  Nor 
of  illusion.  15.  Nor  of  a  spiritual  manifestation.  16.  The 
post-resurrection  life  and  instructions  of  Jesus.  1 7.  The  faith 
of  the  primitive  community.  18.  The  accounts  of  the  disciples' 
movements  after  the  resurrection.  19.  The  return  to  Galilee. 
20.  The  return  to  Jerusalem  and  the  ascension.  21.  Histori- 
cal significance  of  the  ascension. 


XU  CONTENTS 

III 

THE  INAUGURATION  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  JERUSALEM 

Sections  22-35.    Pages  21-34 

Section  22.  The  company  of  disciples.  23.  The  expectation  of 
the  Spirit.  24.  Tlie  election  of  Matthias.  25.  Conception 
of  the  apostolic  office.  26.  Primitive  and  fundamental  char- 
acter of  the  apostolate.  27.  The  feast  of  Pentecost.  28.  De- 
termination of  its  date.  29.  The  outpouring  of  the  Spirit. 
30.  Peter's  address.  31.  Criticism  of  Luke's  account.  32. 
The  large  number  of  converts.  33.  The  gift  of  "tongues." 
34.  The  form  of  the  gift  at  Pentecost.  35.  The  symbolism  of 
Pentecost. 

IV 

INTERNAL  PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHURCH  IN  JERUSALEM 
AFTER  PENTECOST 

Sections  36-48.     Pages  35-46 

Section  3C.  The  unity  and  customs  of  the  disciples.  37.  Their 
spiritual  life.  38.  The  community  of  goods.  39.  No  rupture 
with  Judaism.  40.  Ananias  and  Sapphira.  41.  Complaints 
of  the  Hellenists.  42.  Election  of  "the  seven."  43.  Their 
office.  44.  The  preaching  of  the  apostles.  45.  Its  assump- 
tions and  methods.  46.  Its  leading  ideas.  47.  Its  omissions 
and  implications.     48.    Beginnings  of  theological  statement. 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY   OF  THE    CHURCH  IN   JERUSALEM 

AFTER  PENTECOST 

Sections  49-61.    Pages  47-55 

Section  49.  Rapid  growth  of  the  church.  50.  First  opposition 
of  the  Sadducees.  51.  First  persecution.  52.  Gamaliel's 
address.  53.  Effect  of  the  address.  54.  Activity  and  arrest 
of    Stephen.      55.    Stephen's    defence.      56.    Its   significance. 


CONTENTS  Xlll 

57.  Origin  of  his  views.  58.  Beginning  of  separation  from 
Judaism.  50.  Relation  of  Steplien's  teaching  to  earlier  views. 
60.  Stephen's  martyrdom.  61.  Persecution  and  dispersion  of 
the  disciples. 

PART   II 

EARLY  EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

I 

HISTORICAL  SOURCES 

Sections  62,  63.     Pages  59-60 

Section  62.  Sources  for  this  period  in  Acts  and  Pauline  epistles. 
Value  of  Acts  viii.  4  to  xii.  25.     63.    Extra-biblical  information. 

II 
THE  DISPERSION 

Sections  64-70.    Pages  61-67 

Section  64.  Progress  through  dispersion.  65.  Philip  in  Samaria. 
66.  Simon  Magus.  67.  Mission  of  Peter  and  John  to  Samaria. 
68.  The  Ethiopian  steward.  69.  Diffusion  of  the  faith  in 
Syria.     70.    Hebraic  character  of  the  earliest  evangelism. 

Ill 

THE  CONVERSION  OF  PAUL 
Sections  71-97.     Pages  68-90 

Section  71.  Paul's  origin.  72.  His  education.  73.  Moderate 
acquaintance  with  Hellenism.  74.  His  remarkable  personal- 
ity. 75.  His  persecution  of  the  discijjles.  76.  His  motives. 
77.  No  predisi)Osition  toward  Christianity.  78.  His  religious 
experience.  79.  The  accounts  of  his  conversion.  80.  The 
conversion  of  Paul.  81.  His  own  references  to  it.  82.  Its 
supernatural  character.     83.    Not   a  legend   nor   an   illusion. 


XIV  CONTENTS 

84.  Paul's  new  views  of  Christianity.  85.  Relation  of  them 
to  his  conversion.  86.  His  view  of  Jesus.  87.  Of  salvation 
by  grace.  88.  Of  Christ's  work.  89.  Of  the  nature  of  faith 
and  of  life  in  Christ.  90.  Consequent  relation  of  Christianity 
to  Judaism.  91.  Paul  in  Damascus.  92.  His  sojourn  in 
Arabia.  93.  Visit  to  Jerusalem.  94.  Relation  of  Acts  ix. 
26-30  and  Gal.  i.  18-24.  95.  Paul's  view  of  his  vocation. 
96.  The  question  of  circumcision  not  yet  raised.  97.  Paul's 
life  after  leaving  Jerusalem. 

IV 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

Sections  98-107.    Pages  91-100 

Section  98.  Cessation  of  persecution.  99.  Renewed  activity 
of  the  disciples.  100.  Separation  of  the  Ecclesia  from  the 
synagogue.  101.  Origin  of  the  eldership.  102.  Functions  of 
the  eldership.  103.  Modification  of  the  work  of  the  apostles. 
104.  Conversion  of  Cornelius.  105.  Its  significance.  106. 
Its  effect.     107.    The  persecution  by  Herod  Agrippa  I. 


RISE   OF  GENTILE  CHRISTIANITY  IN  ANTIOCH 

Sections  108-116.    Pages  101-110 

Section  108.  Interest  of  the  mother  church  in  the  work  at 
Antioch.  109.  Oi-igin  of  that  work.  110.  Importance  of 
Antioch.  111.  Mission  of  Barnabas.  112.  The  arrival 
of  Paul  at  Antioch.  113.  The  name  "  Christian."  114.  The 
"prophets."  115.  Prophecy  of  Agabus  and  the  gifts  of  the 
Antiochans  for  the  Judean  disciples.  116.  The  visit  to 
Jerusalem  of  Barnabas  and  Paul  with  the  gifts. 

VI 

THE  MISSIONARY  JOURNEY  OF    PAUL    AND  BARNABAS 

Sections  117-131.    Pages  111-122 

Section  117.  Origin  of  the  journey.  118.  Its  destination  and 
authority.  119.  Its  date  and  length.  120.  The  work  in 
Cyprus.    121.    Perga   and   Pisidian  Antioch.     122.    Paul's  ad- 


CONTENTS  XV 

dress  in  Pisidian  Antioch.  123.  The  close  of  the  address. 
124.  Significance  of  the  address.  125.  Results  in  Pisidian 
Antioch.  126.  Iconiuiu,  Lystra,  Derbe.  127.  Paul's  address 
at  Lystra.  128.  Conversion  of  Timothy.  129.  The  return 
from  Derbe  to  Spian  Antioch.  130.  Methods  of  the  mis- 
sionaries.    131.    Providential  preparations  for  their  work. 


PART  III 

JUDAIC   CHRISTIANITY 


HISTORICAL    SOURCES 

Sections  132-136.    Packs  125-12 

Section  132.  Portions  of  Acts  and  Pauline  epistles  bearing  on 
this  period.  133.  The  Epistle  of  James  ;  date  and  authorship. 
134.  Recent  critical  theories  of  the  epistle.  135.  Allusions  in 
Epistle  to  Hebrews  pertaining  to  this  period.  136.  Extra- 
biblical  sources. 

II 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  JUDAIC  CHRISTIANITY 

Sections  137-146.    Pages  129-138 

Section  137.  Progress  of  Christianity  in  Judea.  138.  Little  in- 
ternal development.  139.  James,  the  Lord's  brother.  140. 
His  influence  and  character.  141.  His  early  life.  142.  His 
position  in  the  church.  143.  The  Epistle  of  James ;  its 
readers.  144.  Its  contents.  145.  Its  theological  position. 
146.   Historical  inferences  from  it. 

Ill 

THE  COUNCIL  AT  JERUSALEM 

Sections  147-166.     Pages  139-159 

Section  147.  Controversy  concerning  the  obligations  of  Gentile 
believers  to  observe  the  Mosaic  law.  148.  Outbreak  of  the 
controversy  at  Antioch.     149.    The   deputation  to  Jerusalem.    \/ 


XVI  CONTENTS 

150,  151,  Relation  of  Acts  xv.  and  Gal.  i.  1-10.  152.  Con- 
ferences of  Paul  with  James,  Peter,  and  .John.  153.  Why 
was  a  council  convoked  ?  154.  The  proceedings  ot  the  council. 
155.  James'  address.  156.  The  letter  drawn  up  by  the 
council.  157.  The  required  acts  of  abstinence.  158.  The 
motive  of  the  decision.  159.  Acceptance  of  the  decision  by 
Paul.  160.  Why  no  reference  to  it  in  Paul's  epistles.  161. 
Value  of  the  council's  action.  162.  Visit  of  Peter  to  Antioch. 
163.  Disturbance  of  the  church  through  his  action.  164. 
Paul's  rebuke  of  Peter.  165.  Disclosure  of  Paul's  theological 
position.     166.    Results  of  his  action  on  this  occasion. 

IV 

JUDAIC  CHRISTIANITY  AFTER  THE  COUNCIL 

Sections  167-173.    Pages  160-166 

Section  167.  Political  unrest  in  Judea.  168.  Condition  of  the 
Christians.  169.  Their  relation  to  the  State.  170.  Their 
divided  attitude  toward  Paul.  171.  Death  of  James.  Flight 
of  the  chui'ch  to  Pella.  172.  Historical  inferences  from  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  173.  The  permanent  contribution  of 
Judaic  Christianity. 

PART   IV 

EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY  UNDER  PAUL 

I 

HISTORICAL  SOURCES 

Sections  174-180.     Pages  169-176 

Section  174.  Acts  and  the  Pauline  epistles.  175.  Objections 
raised  to  the  genuineness  of  the  pastoral  epistles.  176-180. 
Reply  to  these  objections. 

II 

ENTRANCE  OF   CHRISTIANITY   INTO   EUROPE 

Sections  181-197.    Pages  177-193 

Section  181.  An  era  of  wide-spread  evangelism.  182.  Special 
importance  of  Paul's  work.     183.    Origin  of  his  second  journey. 


CONTENTS  XVll 

184.  The  route  followed.  Timothy  joins  the  party.  185. 
Did  Paul  enter  Galatia  proper?  186.  Probable  origin  of  the 
churches  of  Galatia.  187.  To  whom  was  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians  written?  188.  Paul's  preaching  in  Galatia  and  sub- 
sequent movements.  189.  The  vision  of  the  man  of  Macedonia. 
190.  Paul  at  Philippi.  191.  The  Philippian  church.  192. 
Thessalonica.  193.  Paul's  work  in  Thessalonica.  194. 
Berea  and  Athens.  195.  Paul's  work  in  Athens.  196.  His 
address  at  Athens.     197.   Character  and  effects  of  the  address. 

Ill 

PAUL  IN  CORINTH 

Sections  198-208.    Pages  194-203 

Section  198.  Paul  in  Corinth.  Aquila  and  Priscilla.  199. 
Founding  of  the  Corinthian  Church.  200.  Accusation  of  Paul 
before  Gallio.  201.  The_  epistles  to  the  Thessalonians.  202. 
Introduction  to  Pauline  literature.  203 .  Occasion  of  First 
Thessalonians.  204.  Its  character.  205.  Occasion  of  Second 
Thessalonians.  206.  Its  contents.  207.  View  given  of  Thes- 
salonian  Christianity.  The  doctrine  of  the  second  advent. 
208.    Return  of  Paul  from  Corinth  to  Antioch. 

IV 

PAUL  IN  EPHESUS 

Sections  209-227.    Pages  204-223 

Section  209.  Second  visit  to  Galatia.  210.  Apollos.  The 
twelve  disciples  at  Ephesus.  211.  Paul's  sojourn  in  Ephesus. 
212.  Character  of  his  work  there.  213.  Epistle  to  the  fii^lfu 
tians;  its  date^  214.  Its  occasion.  The  Judaizers.  216. 
Paul's  defence  of  his  apostleship.  216.  His  defence  of  his 
doctrine.  217.  Further  argument  and  application.  218. 
Historical  value  of  the  epistle.  219.  First  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  ;  date  and  occasion.^  220.  The  factions  in  Corinth.^ 
221.  TEe  true  gospel.  222.  Christianity  and  Hellenism.  223, 
Practical  difficulties  in  the  church.  224.  Abuses  in  worship. 
225.  Doctrine  of  the  resurrection.  226.  The  collection  for  the 
Judean  disciples.  227.  Difficulties  at  Corinth  subsequent  to 
the  sending  of  this  epistle. 

b 


XVlll  CONTENTS 


FROM  EPHESUS  TO  ROME 

Sections  228-245.    Pages  224-237 

Section  228.  Report  brought  by  Titus  from  Corinth.  229. 
Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  ;  occasion  and  general  char- 
acter. 230.  Contents  of  Second  Corinthians.  231.  Journey 
of  Paul  in  Macedonia  and  to  Corinth.  232.  The  Epistle  to  the 
Romans.  Origin  of  Roman  Christianity.  233.  Purpose  of  the 
epistle.  234.  Main  argument  of  the  epistle.  235.  Motive  of 
chapters  ix.-xi.  236.  Historical  importance  of  the  epistle. 
237,  Journey  of  Paul  from  Corinth  to  Jerusalem.  238.  Paul's 
arrest.  239.  Paul  before  the  Sanhedrim.  240.  Paul  before 
Felix.  241.  The  Csesarean  imprisonment.  242.  The  appeal 
to  Caesar.  243.  Defence  before  Festus  and  Agrippa.  244. 
The  voyage  to  Rome.     245.   Paul's  arrival  at  Rome* 

YI 

PAUL  IN  ROME 

Sections  246-261.    Pages  238-251 

Section  246.  Paul's  interview  with  the  Jews  in  Rome  247. 
His  work  in  the  capital.  248.  The  Christians  in  Rome.  249. 
The  epistles  written  from  Rome.  250.  Epistle  to  the.  Colos- 
sians.  251.  The  Colossian  errorists.  252.  Teaching  of  this 
epistle.  253.  The  doctrine  of  the  person  of  Christ.  254. 
Epistle  to  Philemon.  Christianity  as  a  social  force.  255. 
Epistle  to  the  Ep^^sja^as*^  256.  Its  relation  to  Colossians. 
257.  Completion  of  Paul's  statement  of  Christianity.  258. 
His  conception  of  the  church.  259.  Epistle  to  the  Philippians. 
260.  Use  of  the  term  Episcopos.  261.  Teaching  of  the  epistle. 
Paul  awaiting  trial. 

yn 

THE  LAST  YEARS  OP  PAUL 

Sections  262-271.    Pages  252-261 

Section  262.  Spread  of  Christianity  through  Paul.  263.  Paul's 
martyrdom.  264.  Reasons  for  believing  in  his  release  from  the 
imprisonment   recorded   in  Acts.     265.   The^astoral  epistles 


CONTENTS  XIX 

cannotjbe  inserted  in  Acts.  266.  Movements  of  Paul  after  his 
release.  26  7.  Motive  of  the  directions  given  to  Timothy  and 
Titus.  268.  The  organization  of  the  churches.  269.  Perils 
of  Christianity.  270.  Paul's  situation  according  to  Second 
Timothy.     271.    Paul's  last  words  and  the  close  of  his  life. 


PART   V 

PROGRESS    OF    CHRISTIANITY    TO    THE    CLOSE   OF 
THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


HISTOEICAL  SOURCES 

Sections  272-282.    Pages  265-274 

Section  272.  Authorship  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  273. 
Its  readers  and  date.  274.  The  First  Epistle  of  Peter.  275. 
The  Second   Epistle  of   Peter.      276.    The   Epistle   of  Jude. 

277.  The   synoptic   gospels.     Gospel   according   to   Matthew. 

278.  Gospel  according  to  Mark.  279.  Gospel  according  to 
Luke.  280.  Date  of  the  Acts.  281.  Johanncan  books;  their 
authenticity.     282.    Unity  and  date  of  Revelation. 

II 

THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PETER 

Sections  283-295.    Pages  27.5-285 

Section  283.  The  progress  of  Christianity  apart  from  its  expan- 
sion under  Paul  but  partially  known.  284.  Life  of  Peter  after 
the  council  at  Jerusalem.  285.  Peter  at  Rome.  286.  Time 
of  his  death.  287.  Inferences  from  First  Peter  as  to  the  con- 
dition of  its  readers.  288.  The  development  of  persecution 
under  Nero.  289.  Effect  of  persecution  on  the  church.  290. 
Characteristics  of  Peter's  teaching.  291.  Perils  within  the 
church.  Jude  and  Second  Peter.  292.  Information  about 
Jude.  293.  The  false  Christians  denounced  in  his  epistle. 
294.  The  errorists  denounced  in  Second  Peter.  295.  The 
threatening  perils  of  the  church. 


XX  CONTENTS 


III 


THE   FINAL   TRANSITION  FROM  JUDAISM  TO 
CHRISTIANITY 

Sections  296-300     Pages  286-289 

Section  296.  Occasion  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  297.  Im- 
portance of  the  epistle  in  the  statement  of  apostolic  Christian- 
ity. 298.  Its  leading  ideas.  299.  Argument  of  the  epistle. 
300     Historical  value  of  its  teaching. 

IV 

RISE  OF  HISTORICAL  NARRATIVES 

Sections  301-304.     Pages  290-293 

Section  301.  The  apostolic  preaching  about  Jesus,  302.  Ten- 
dency of  the  recital  to  acquire  fixity  of  form ;  its  general 
contents.  303.  Appearance  of  written  gospels.  304.  The 
historical  consciousness  of  the  church. 


THE  JOHANNEAN  PERIOD 

Sections  305-321.     Pages  294-312 

Section  305.  Transitional  character  of  the  last  third  of  the 
first  century.  306.  Continued  spread  of  Christianity.  307. 
Variety  of  classes  in  the  chui'ch.  308.  Christian  worship. 
309.  Development  of  organization.  310.  Spread  of  false 
teaching.  311.  Enmity  of  the  world.  Persecution.  312. 
Influence  of  the  age  on  the  church.  313.  The  last  years  of 
John.  314.  John  in  Ephesus.  315.  The  gospel  according 
to  John.  Significance  of  its  prologue.  316.  Relation  of 
John's  first  epistle  to  his  gospel  317.  The  Second  and  Third 
Epistles  of  John.  318.  The  Kevelation.  319.  Historical  im- 
plications of  the  Revelation.  320,  The  world-consciousness  of 
Christianity.     321.    Conclusion;  the  unity  of  the  apostolic  age. 

Appendix,  Chronology  of  the  Apostolic  Age     •  315-322 

Selected  Bibliography       ,...,,...  323-328 

Index  of  Names  and  Subjects 331-334 

Index  of  Biblical  References 335-343 


PART    I 
RISE    OF   CHRISTIANITY   IN   JERUSALEM 


HISTtHlfAL   Sf U:RCES 

1.  We  are  dependent  practically  for  our  knowledge 
of  Christianity  in  the  apostolic  age  upon  the  books 
which  compose  the  New  Testament.  The  Jewish  his- 
torian Josephus  furnishes  little,  if  any,  information. 
He  gives,  indeed,  a  brief  account  of  John  the  Baptist 
(Antiq.  xviii.  5.  2),  relates  the  death  of  "James  the 
brother  of  Jesus  who  is  called  Christ,"  (Antiq.  xx. 
9.  1),  and,  at  the  close  of  the  famous  paragraph  in 
which  he  speaks  of  Jesus,  adds,  "  the  tribe  of  Christians 
so  named  from  him  are  not  extinct  at  this  day  "  (Antiq. 
xviii.  3.  3).  The  latter  passage,  however,  has  probably 
been  largely  interpolated  by  a  Christian  hand  (see 
Gieseler,  Eccles.  Hist.  I.  48;  Schilrer,  HJP.  I.,  11. 
143),  and  even  the  two  other  passages,  though  with 
much  less  reason,  have  been  questioned.  At  the  most, 
Josephus  furnishes  nothing  that  is  of  special  value.  Of 
Roman  writers,  likewise,  only  Ta.c[tus_( Annals,  xv.  44) 
and  Suetonius  (Nero,  16)  mention  the  Christians,  and 
this  in  connection  with  Nero's  persecution.  The  former 
states  that  "  Christ,  the  author  of  this  name,  when 
Tiberius  was  emperor,  was  put  to  death  by  the  procu- 
rator Pontius  Pilate.  Though  repressed  for  a  while, 
the  deadly  superstition  again  broke  forth,  not  only 
throughout  Judea,  the  original  home  of  this  evil,  but 


4  RISE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  JERUSALEM 

throughout  the  city  [Rome]  also,  whither  all  atrocious 
and  shameful  things  flow  and  are  practised."  While 
thus  from  pagan  sources  glimpses  may  be  caught  of  the 
new  religion,  no  real  account  is  obtained  of  its  begin- 
nings and  development.  Neither  is  there  in  the  Chris- 
tian writings  of  the  second  century  anything  which  adds 
substantially  to  the  New  Testament  records.  The  his- 
torian must  depend,  theref oref  u^n  the  critical  study 
and  careful  interpretation  of  the  apostolic  literature 
itself. 

(_  2.  For  the  earliest  period,  covering  the  rise  of  Chris- 
tianity in  Jerusalem,  the  authorities  are  the  closing 
chapters  of  the  four  gospels  and  the  opening  chapters 
of  the  Acts>)  None  of  the  so-called  apocryphal  gospels 
are  worthy  of  consideration,  even  the  lately  recovered 
Gospel  of  Peter  being  built  on  the  canonical  ones  and 
adding  nothing  of  historical  value  {Swete,  Gosp.  of  P.  p. 
xv).  Still  more  valueless  are  the  apocryphal  Acts  of 
Peter,  of  John,  of  Thomas,  of  Andrew,  which  circulated, 
chiefly  among  heretical  sects,  in  the  second  and  third 
centuries.  The  canonical  gospels,  however,  came  from 
the  apostolic  age,  and  contain  the  testimony  of  original 
witnesses  to  the  life  of  Christ  (sects.  277-281).  We 
are  only  concerned  with  their  closing  chapters.  These 
accounts  of  the  Lord's  resurrection  and  post-resurrection 
life  are  obviously  fragmentary.  The  last  twelve  verses 
of  Mark,  moreover,  are  now  generally  recognized  as 
an  addition  to  the  gospel,  having  taken  the  place  of  the 
original  conclusion,  and  cannot  be  considered  of  equal 
authority  with  the  rest  (see  Westcott  and  Hort,  N.  T. 
in  Greek.  Notes  on  select  readings,  p.  28).  Luke's 
last  chapter  is,  from  verse  forty-four,  a  condensed  sum- 
mary of  Christ's  final  instructions,  and  is  transitional  to 


VALUE  OF  THE  BOOK  OF  ACTS         5 

the  account  with  which  the  Acts  begins.     Yet  in  spite 
of  their  fragmentary  character,  and  however  difficult  it 
may  be  to  construct  a  chronological  narrative  from  the 
material  contained  in  them,  these  brief  apostolic  records  . 
are  of  the  highest  value,  not  only  as  testimony  to  the  I 
fact  of  Christ's  resurrection,  but  also  as  disclosing  the   j 
state  of  mind  in  which  the  disciples  entered  on  their 
independent  career. 

3.  Still  more  important  for  our  purposes  is  the  book 
commonly  entitled  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Its  his- 
torical value  has  been  warmly  disputed  in  modern  times, 
although  upon  it  rests  the  whole  traditional  idea  of  the 
greater  part  of  apostolic  history.  Evidence  of  many\ 
kinds,  however,  has  accumulated  to  support  its  accu- 
racy. That  it  was  written  in  the  first  century  must  cer- 
tainly be  admitted  (so  Uarnack.,  Chronologic,  I.  p.  246  ; 
Ramsay,  St.  Paul  the  Trav.  p.  386).  In  fact,  after  the 
middle  of  the  second  century  it  appears  as  a  recognized 
canonical  book,  and  traces  of  its  use  in  the  churches 
may  be  found  still  earlier.  (Xhe  author  was  a  compan- 
ion of  Paul,  for  he  significantly  uses  at  times  in  his  • 
narrative  of  the  apostle's  travels  the  first  person  plural 
(xvi.  10-16 ;  XX.  5  to  xxi.  18 ;'  xxvii.  1  to  xxviii.  16)  ;j 
and  that  this  is  not  an  instance  of  the  use  by  a  later 
writer  of  an  earlier  source  is  demonstrable,  first,  by  the 
general  similarity  of  the  style  of  the  "  we  sections  "  with 
the  rest  of  the  book,  and,  secondly,  by  the  fact  that  for 
the  author  to  have  allowed  the  "  we  "  of  his  source  to 
have  remained  unchanged  in  his  narrative  would  have 
been  to  pursue  a  method  entirely  different  from  that 
which  he  follows  elsewhere  when  using  earlier  sources. 
Furthermore,  the  tradition,  which  appears  the  accepted 
one  in  the  second  century,  that  the  author  was  Luke, 


6  KISE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  JERUSALEM 

harmonizes  with  the  notices  in  Paul's  epistles  of  Luke's 
movements,  as  the  latter  do  with  no  other  of  the  apos- 
tle's prominent  associates.  The  objection  that  a  com- 
panion of  Paul  ought  to  have  given  fuller  information, 
and  that  he  even  shows  ignorance  of  much  that  such  a 
man  would  have  known  {McGriffert,  Ap.  Age,  p.  237), 
proceeds  on  an  arbitrary  assumption  concerning  what 
Luke  would  be  likely  to  record,  and  a  failure  to  appre- 
ciate the  plan  and  purpose  of  his  book. 

4.  What,  then,  is  the  value  of  Acts  as  an  historical 
source  ?  That  Luke  carefully  gathered  his  material  is 
expressly  stated  by  him  in  the  beginning  of  his  gospel 
(Luke  i.  1-4),  —  an  earlier  book  to  which  he  plainly 
refers  (Acts  i.  1,  2).  It  is  highly  probable  that  he 
collected  his  matter  not  only  from  oral  but  also  from 
written  sources.  He  had  his  own  notes  on  Paul's 
travels.  Then  the  speeches  of  Peter  and  others  were 
probably  preserved  among  the  Jewish  Christians  in 
writing.  Other  historical  records  may  have  been  used. 
Yet  Luke  does  not  copy  his  material  slavishly.  He 
weaves  it-  into  his  narrative,  giving  much  of  it  in 
language  which  is  characteristically  his  own,  while  at 
the  same  time  he  reproduces  in  great  part  the  equally 
characteristic  phrases  and  follows  the  thought  of  the 
original  speakers  in  a  way  which  gives  remarkable 
variety  and  verisimilitude  to  his  reports.  Certainly 
his  opportunities  for  gathering  information  were  of  the 
best.  A  companion  of  Paul,  he  was  acquainted  also 
with  some  of  the  leading  actors  in  the  earlier  history 
(Acts  xxi.  8,  18 ;  Col.  iv.  14,  compared  with  10).  /  He 
appears  to  have  remained  in  Palestine  during  the  two 
years  of  Paul's  imprisonment  at  Cassarea,  at  which  time 
his  materials  may  have  been,  at  least  in  part,  collected. 


LUKE'S  AUTHORITY  AS  AN  HISTORIAN  7 

5.  His  value  as  an  historian,  however,  is  to  be  esti- 
mated in  two _wayB :  first,  hj  comparison  with  other 
sources ;  secondly,  by  an  examination  of  his  method. 
So  far  as  concerns  the  first,  he  may  be  tested  by  the 
epistles  of  Paul  and  by  archajological  evidence  relating 
to  the  condition  of  the  places  in  which  his  narrative 
moves.  His  harmony  with  the  epistles,  when  both  are 
fairly  interpreted,  has  become  more  and  more  manifest 
with  the  progress  of  modern  cxegetical  study.  Opinions 
still  differ  on  details,  but  in  the  main  the  trustworthiness 
of  Acts  in  these  matters  is  certain.  Numerous  proofs 
of  this  will  appear  in  the  following  pages.  ArchsKology, 
likewise,  has  notably  confirmed  his  record.  Here  the 
student  is  specially  indebted  to  the  recent  works  of 
Prof.  W.  H.  Ramsay  (Ch.  in  Rom.  Emp. ;  St.  Paul  the 
Trav.).  Luke  moves  through  the  varied  and  changing 
political  relations  of  the  cities  of  Asia  Minor  and 
Europe  with  perfect  accuracy.  He  reproduces  the 
local  coloring  of  events  and  repeats  the  common  par- 
lance of  the  people  about  whom  he  writes.  It  may  be 
safely  said  that  his  accuracy  has  stood  the  test  of  fair 
investigation. 

6.  It  is  often  said,  however,  that  in  the  earlier  parts 
of  Acts  he  is  not  as  trustworthy  as  elsewhere.  He 
cannot  be  here  tested  directly  by  epistles  or  archae- 
ology. But  he  can  be  tested  as  to  his  method.  Does 
it  show  an  intelligent  grasp  of  the  situation  and  a  per- 
ception of  real  progress  in  the  history  ?  The  answer 
to  this  is  also  favorable.  His  whole  book  is  arranged 
on  an  artistic,  but  not  artificial,  plan,  to  show  the  es- 
tablishment by  the  Spirit  through  the  apostles  of 
universal  Christianity.  In  his  account  of  the  early 
church   in   Jerusalem  (i.    1  to    viii.    3)   he   follows   a 


8  RISE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  JERUSALEM 

method  which  shows  intelligent  comprehension  of  the 
course  of  events  and  corresponds  to  what  is  in- 
herently probable.  After  describing  Christ's  last 
instructions  and  ascension,  and  the  company  which 
formed  the  original  nucleus  of  the  church,  he  relates 
six  events  (ii.  1-47 ;  iii.  1  to  iv.  37  ;  v.  1-16 ;  v.  17-42 ; 
vi.  1-8 ;  vi.  9  to  viii.  3)  which  pertain  alternately  to 
the  internal  and  external  life  of  the  community,  and 
set  forth  in  a  representative  way  the  development  of 
the  church  and  its  changing  relation  to  Judaism.  He 
thus  conceived  the  history  in  its  logical  relations  and 
understood  the  movement  with  manifest  intelligence. 
The  book  of  Acts  may  therefore  be  used  as  an  au- 
thority of  the  first  order.  In  Luke  is  to  be  found  the 
first  Christian  historian.  It  may  be  added  that  in 
using  Acts  we  follow  the  usually  received  critical  Greek 
text.  The  theory  of  Professor  Blass  of  Halle  that 
Luke  issued  two  editions  of  his  books  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  verified  ;  and  the  interesting  facts  occasion- 
ally introduced  into  the  narrative  by  the  alleged  first 
edition  of  Acts,  which  Professor  Blass  obtains  from 
certain  Greek  and  Latin  manuscripts,  are  not  suf- 
ficiently attested. 


II 

THE   ORIGIN   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

7.  Christianity  originated  in  the  appearance  among 
the  Jews  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  specifically  from  the 
belief  in  his  Messiahship  created  by  the  events  of  his 
career,  his  teaching,  and  his  unique  personality.  It 
did  not,  however,  become  an  independent  movement 
until  shortly  after  its  Founder's  death.  -^  The  gospels 
show  that  the  immediate  object  of  Jesus  during  his 
life  was  twofold.  On  the  one  hand,  he  offered  him-  / 
self  to  the  Jews  as  one  who  had  come  from  God  to 
establish  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  inveighed  against 
cun-ent  Judaism  as  a  false  interpretation  of  God's 
commands,  and  summoned  the  people  to  accept  him 
as  the  revealer  of  the  true  religious  life.  On  the  other  i. 
hand,  foreseeing  from  the  stgirt  their  rejection  of  him 
(see,  John  ii.  19;  iii.  11,  14,  19;  Luke  iv.  24-27; 
Matt.  viii.  10-12  ;  xii.  39, 41 ;  Luke  xi.  49-51 ;  Matt.  ix. 
15  ;  John  vi.  51-56  ;  Matt.  xvi.  21-23,  etc.),  he  addressed 
himself  to  the  task  of  attaching  to  himself  and  his 
teaching  a  nucleus  of  believers  who  should  carry  on, 
after  his  death,  the  establishment  of  the  kingdom. 
But  he  did  not  organize  them  into  a  separate  society, 
save  by  the  appointment  of  the  twelve  apostles.  These 
he  constituted  his  personal  representatives  and  the 
official  heads  of  the  new  Israel  (Matt.  x.  44  ;  Mark  iii. 
14, 15  ;   Matt.  xvii.  19  ;   xviii.  18  ;  xix.  28,  cf.  Mark  x. 


10  KISE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  JERUSALEM 

37 ;  Luke  xxii.  29,  30) ;  but  he  attempted  no  further 
organization.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to  see  the  reason. 
It  would  have  interfered  with  his  offer  of  himself  as 
the  Messiah  of  the  nation.  It  would  also  have  been 
premature  ;  for  he  clearly  realized  (see  Matt.  xvii.  9 ; 
John  xvii.  12,  13,  etc.)  that  their  activity  could  proceed 
successfully  only  after  his  own  career  on  earth  had 
been  finished.  While,  therefore,  Jesus  was  the  founder 
of  Christianity,  the  history  of  the  latter  as  an  organized 
movement  may  be  said  properly  to  have  begun  with 
the  little  company  of  disciples  who  believed  in  him 
after  his  rejection  by  the  Jews  and  crucifixion  by 
Pilate. 

8,  It  is  the  unanimous  testimony  of  all  our  sources 
of  information  that  these  disciples,  dismayed  by  the 

j, death  of  Jesus,  were  re-established  in  their  faith  by 
I /his  resurrection,  his  subsequent  appearances  to  them, 
^■^  and  the  instructions  which  then  he  gave  them.  It 
is  beyond  question  that  belief  in  his  resurrection  was 
suddenly  created  among  them  shortly  after  his  death. 
Nothing  will  explain  the  confidence  with  which  they 
proclaimed  him  as  Messiah,  except  the  conviction  in 
all  of  them  that  he  not  only  still  lived,  but  had  been 
clothed  by  God  with  power ;  and  that  this  conviction 
took  the  specific  form  of  belief  in  the  resurrection  of 
his  dead  body  is  equally  certain  from  their  express 
testimonies  (Acts  ii.  24-32 ;  iii.  15 ;  iv.  10,  etc. ;  I. 
Thess.  iv.  14 ;  I.  Cor.  xv.  4-8,  etc.). 

9.  In  considering  the  grounds  upon  which  this 
belief  rested,  the  following  facts  should  be  borne  in 
mind,  {a)  The  belief  appears  as  strong  and  universal 
at  thfe  beginning  of  the  history  of  the  church  as 
afterwards.     This  is  attested  in  the  Acts  not  only  by 


TESTBIONY  TO  TUE   RESURRECTION  11 

Luke's  own  narrative,  but  by  the  speeches  of  Peter 
which  he  reports.  In  the  earliest  epistle  of  Paul, 
also,  Christ's  resurrection  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the 
commonplaces  of  Christian  faith  (I.  Thess.  iv.  14), 
while  in  I.  Corinthians  (xv.  1-8)  it  is  presented  as  a 
basal  fact  on  which  all  Christianity  reposes.  There 
is  thus  no  indication  that  the  belief  formed  gradually, 
even  during  the  earliest  period  of  the  apostolic  age. 
It  is  to  be  observed  also  that  in  the  speeches  of  Peter 
(Acts  ii.  31 ;  x.  41)  as  much  stress  is  laid  on  the 
corporeal  reality  of  the  resurrection  as  is  done  in 
the  later  gospels ;  nor  did  Paul  conceive  of  the 
future  bodies  of  believers,  which  are  to  be  like  the 
Lord's  (I.  Cor.  xv.  49),  as  any  the  less  material 
because  they  will  be  also  "  spiritual "  or  perfect  organs 
of  the  Spirit.  As,  therefore,  the  belief  in  Christ's 
resurrection  did  not  form  gradually,  so  neither  is 
there  any  trace  of  a  modification  of  the  belief  in  the 
interest  of  a  more  literal  representation.  The  apostolic 
description  of  it  is  essentially  the  same  throughout. 

10.  (b)  The  appeal  in  support  of  the  fact  was  made 
publicly  and  to  well-known  and  accredited  witnesses. 
The  apostles  were  the  official  witnesses  (Acts  i.  22  ;  x. 
41 ;  I.  Cor,  ix.  1;  xv.  5-8 ;  John  xxi.  14),  though  their 
testimony  was  confirmed  by  that  of  James  and  many 
others.  A  large  number  of  persons,  therefore,  must  have 
received  together  or  at  different  times  evidence  of  its 
reality.  There  is  no  indication  that  it  was  accepted  by 
a  majority  of  these  witnesses  on  the  report  of  a  few. 
Peter,  the  most  conspicuous  witness  in  Acts,  —  the  ap- 
pearance of  Jesus  to  whom  is  specifically  mentioned  by 
Luke  (Luke  xxiv.  34)  and  Paul  (1.  Cor.  xv.  7), —  never 
represents  it  as  resting  on  his  own  testimony  or  on  that 


12  RISE   OF   CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

of  any  other  individual,  but  on  that  of  all  the  apostles 
(see  e.  g.  Acts  ii.  32  ;  iii.  15  ;  x.  41).    A  belief  produced 

j     in  so  many  minds  of  very  different  temperaments  must 
"^     have  had  a  firm  foundation. 

V  11.  (c)  The  accounts  of  the  resurrection  period 
given  in  the  gospels  were  evidently  not  framed  for  the 
purpose  of  presenting  the  evidence  on  which  the  church 
rested  its  belief.  Such  a  view  of  them  would  be  incon- 
sistent with  the  method  of  proof  illustrated  by  Paul 
(I.  Cor.  XV.  3-8),  which  summarizes  the  evidence,  from 
the  apologetic  point  of  view,  current  in  the  churches. 
The  gospels  were  written  for  believers,  and  give  inci- 
dents to  confirm  faith  or  to  serve  other  religious  pur- 
poses. This  is  in  accordance  with  the  general  character 
of  those  books.  Comparison  with  the  kind  of  evidence 
to  which  appeal  is  made  elsewhere  clearly  shows  that 
they  give  but  fragments  of  the  proof  by  which  the  belief 
in  the  resurrection  was  created.  It  would  be  wrong, 
therefore,  to  rest  the  case,  affirmatively  or  negatively, 
on  them  alone. 

12.  {(V)  At  the  same  time  *the  incidents  related  in 
the  gospels  or  referred  to  elsewhere  (Acts  i.  4,  6-8 ;  x. 
41 ;  I.  Cor.  xv.  5-7),  however  difficult  a  precise  har- 
mony of  them  may  be,  exhibit  a  sobriety  and  variety  of 
testimony  which  lends  a  strong  confirmation  to  the 
formal  apostolic  witness.  There  is  a  notable  absence 
from  them  of  extravagant   elaboration  of   details,   in 

,  regard  to  either  the  appearance,  actions,  or  teaching  of 
the  risen  Lord,  such  as  are  found  in  later  apocryphal 
works  (see  e.  g.  Gospel  of  Peter,  Gospel  of  Nicodcmus) . 

/■  We  learn  from  them  that  Jesus  appeared  both  to  indi- 
vidual disciples  and  to  companies  of  them,  both  by  day 
(Matt,   xxviii.  9,  16-18 ;    Luke   xxiv.  29 ;   John   xx. 


REALITY  OF  THE  RESURRECTION        13 

16 ;  xxi.  4  ;  Acts  i.  4)  and  by  night  (Luke  xxiv.  36 ; 
John  XX.  19),  that  ho  conversed  and  ate  with  them,  and 
that  they  handled  (Matt,  xxviii.  9 ;  Luke  xxiv.  39 ;  John 
XX.  27)  and  walked  with  him.  The  testimony  is  not 
merely  that  his  body  disappeared  from  the  tomb,  or  that 
a  few  persons,  who  might  have  had  inflamed  imagina- 
tions, professed  to  have  seen  him,  but  that  a  consider- 
able company  of  people  on  many  occasions  and  under  a 
variety  of  conditions  received  what  they  believed  to  be 
sensible  proofs  of  his  appearance  to  them  in  the  same 
body  which  had  expired  upon  the  cross.  Judging  from 
these  fragments  of  the  evidence,  the  apostolic  testimony 
as  a  whole  must  have  been  based  on  abundant  proof. 

13.  Nor  can  the  universality  and  persistence  of  the 
disciples'  belief  be  explained  on  any  theory  which  denies 
its  objective  reality.  The  Jews  charged  them  with 
having  stolen  the  body  and  fabricated  the  story  of  the  A' 
resurrection  (Matt,  xxviii.  11-15).  But  the  honesty  of 
their  belief  is  attested  irrefragably  by  the  pure  and 
unselfish  character  of  their  lives  and  preaching,  and  of 
the  Christian  movement  as  a  whole.  The  Jewish  charge 
also  implies  a  deliberate  conspiracy,  in  which  many 
were  induced  to  unite,  and  which  was  carried  out  so 
successfully  that  not  only  were  Pilate's  guards  circum- 
vented, but  no  one  of  the  conspirators  ever  betrayed  the 
plot ;  and  the  mental  condition  of  the  disciples  after  the 
crucifixion,  as  well  as  their  moral  character,  absolutely 
forbids  such  an  hypothesis.  No  critic,  however  scep- 
tical, is  now  disposed  to  question  seriously  the  honesty 
of  the  disciples'  belief. 

14,  Neither  can  their  belief  be  attributed  to  illusion. 
Apart  from  the  evidence  already  mentioned,  and  which 
of  itself  makes  illusion  quite  impossible,  this  hypoth- 


14  EISE   OF   CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

esis,  which  would  account  for  the  belief  by  visions 
which  the  disciples  supposed  they  had  had  of  their 
Lord,  requires  the  assumption  that  an  expectation  of 
the  resurrection  existed  among  them.  Only  thus 
would  there  be  a  psychological  basis  for  the  false 
belief.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  such  an  expecta- 
tion did  not  exist.  It  is  true  that  Jesus  on  at  least 
three  occasions  (Mark  viii.  31 ;  ix.  31 ;  x.  34)  had  pre- 
dicted his  death  and  resurrection.  But  the  testimony 
is  equally  explicit  that  under  the  distress  and  dis- 
appointment of  his  death  the  prediction  as  well  as  the 
command  to  meet  him  in  Galilee  (Mark  xiv.  28)  was 
either  forgotten  or  entirely  without  influence  on  the 
disciples.  Even  the  women  prepared  spices  for  his 
burial.  The  first  reports  of  the  resurrection  were  re- 
ceived with  incredulity.  There  is  only  one  intimation 
that  any  remembered  the  prediction  (Luke  xxiv.  21), 
and  that  was  after  the  report  of  the  women  had  been 
heard.  All  the  information,  therefore,  which  we  can 
gather  concerning  the  mental  condition  of  the  dis- 
ciples forbids  the  hypothesis  of  illusion  by  eliminat- 
ing the  element  of  expectation  which  is  its  necessary 
psychological  basis.  Add  to  this  the  large  number  of 
witnesses  and  the  variety  of  occasions  on  which  their 
belief  was  created,  and  the  hypothesis  becomes  doubly 
incredible. 

15.  Finally,  the  evidence  likewise  forbids  even  the 
mediating  opinion  that  Jesus  did  show  himself  to  his 
disciples  in  some  form,  but  not  in  the  body  which  had 
been  laid  in  the  grave.  This  theory  is  a  purely  specu- 
lative one,  and  rests  on  no  historical  evidence  whatever. 
It  is  incontestable  that  the  grave  was  empty,  as  the 
charge   of   the   Jews    clearly   proves.      It   is   equally 


APPEARANCES  OF  THE  RISEN  CHRIST  15 

certain  that  the  disciples  received  evidence,  and  that, 
too,  in  spite  of  a  strong  indisposition  to  believe  it,  that 
the  body  in  which  their  Lord  appeared  to  them,  though 
changed  in  some  respects,  was  identical  with  that  which 
had  been  crucified  (Acts  ii.  31 ;  I.  Cor.  xv.  15,  20). 
They  particularly  narrate  the  physical  proofs  given  of 
this  identity  (Luke  xxiv.  40,  43  ;  John  xx.  27).  The 
recital  of  these  physical  proofs  of  identity  cannot  be 
regarded  as  the  result  of  a  later  and  legendary  ten- 
dency, for,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  equal  stress 
is  laid  on  the  physical  reality  of  Christ's  resurrection 
body  by  Peter  in  the  Acts.  All  views,  therefore,  which 
deny  the  objective  reality  of  the  event  are  beset  by 
insuperable  difficulties.  If  we  add  to  these  considera- 
tions the  ethical  and  rational  character  of  the  Christian 
life  manifested  by  the  apostles,  the  supposition  of  either 
dishonesty  or  mistake  in  their  belief  must  certainly  be 
rejected.  Criticism  itself,  if  not  swayed  by  philosoph-  | 
ical  prejudice,  must  accept  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  i 
as  a  supernatural  fact  lying  at  the  foundation  of 
apostolic  history. 

16.  While,  however,  the  resurrectigji  of  their  Lord 
reanimated  the  faith  and  hopes  of  the  disciples,  his 
subsequent  appearances  to  them  and  the  instructions 
which  he  gave  them  determined  the  particular  form  of 
their  renewed  life.  He  did  not  live  with  them  habitu- 
ally as  he  had  done  before,  but  "manifested  himself" 
(John  xxi.  1, 14)  on  repeated  occasions  and  often  under 
altered  conditions  (Matt,  xxviii.  17 ;  Luke  xxiv.  16, 
31,  36  ;  John  xx.  9,  26  ;  xxi.  4).  They  thus  were  led 
to  realize  that  a  new  order  of  things  had  begun.  He 
now  plainly  appeared  a  supernatural  being,  clothed 
with  heavenly  power.     This  could  not  have  appeared 


16  RISE   OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  JERUSALEM 

to  them  unnatural,  since  they  had  previously  seen 
abundant  evidence  of  his  celestial  origin  and  power. 
It  was  even  more  in  accord  with  their  Jewish  ideas  of 
a  Messiah  than  the  lowly  man  of  Nazareth  had  been.. 
But  the  point  to  be  observed  is  that  the  new  order, 
with  its  periods  of  withdrawal  and  reappearance,  ac- 
customed them  to  the  thought  of  an  invisible  and  yet 
active  Lord,  and  prepared  them  to  believe  in  his  con- 
tinued power  after  his  final  departure.  His  instruc- 
tions also  gave  definite  direction  to  their  faith.  While 
dealing  in  general,  as  before,  with  "  the  things  pertain- 
ing to  the  kingdom  of  God"  (Acts  i.  3),  it  consisted 
largely  in  the  explanation  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures 
with  regard  to  himself  (Luke  xxiv.  27,  44-47),  and 
thus  pointed  to  the  instrument  by  which  they  were 
to  advance  further  in  the  understanding  of  his  mission 
and  message.  They  were,  moreover,  formally  directed 
to  proclaim  him  to  the  world,  and  baptism  was  ap- 
pointed as  the  rite,  significant  of  repentance  and  faith, 
to  be  used  for  the  admission  of  new  members  to  the 
community  (Matt,  xxviii.  18-23  ;  Luke  xxiv.  47).  The 
faith  itself  was  defined  as  faith  in  the  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Spirit  (Matt,  xxviii.  19),  a  statement  which  sum- 
marized the  teaching  of  Jesus.  He  had  proclaimed  the 
fatherhood  of  God,  had  represented  himself  as  the  Son 
of  God,  and  had  promised  the  Spirit  of  God  to  his  dis- 
ciples. While,  therefore,  this  summary  of  his  teaching 
may  not  have  been  at  once  regarded  as  a  liturgical 
formula,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  it  was  used 
by  Jesus  (sect.  36).  Finally,  on  the  apostles  a  special 
gift  of  the  Spirit  was  bestowed  whereby  they  were 
authorized  to  be  the  spiritual  heads  of  the  whole  com- 
munity of  believers  (John  xx.  22,  23).  . 


PRIMITIVE   FAITH   OF  THE   DISCIPLES  17 

17.  The  disciples  were  thus  prepared  to  begin  their 
independent  career,  not  as  a  body  of  mere  enthusiasts, 
but  as  a  society  organized  by  'certain  definite  beliefs./ 
Certainly  they  had  no  thought  of  separating  themselves 
from  the  existing  religious  institutions  of  their  nation. 
They  were  all  the  more  enthusiastic  Hebrews  for 
believing  that  Israel's  Messiah  had  come.  Yet  they 
formed  a  distinct  community.  The  bond  which  united 
them  was  their  faith  in  Jesus  as  the  divinely  sent  and 
now  victorious  Messiah,  the  Saviour  of  all  believers, 
the  sure  restorer  of  Israel's  glory,  the  revealer  of  the 
Father,  the  source  of  power,  and  the  lawful  Lord  of 
all  mankind.  Around  this  gathered  an  apprehension 
of  his  teaching  about  God,  himself,  the  kingdom, 
and  the  future,  which  probably  varied  in  degree  and 
extent  with  different  individuals.  This  faith  com- 
pacted and  energized  them.  It  contained  Christianity 
in  the  germ.  For  it  the  teaching  and  career  of  Jesus 
had  prepared.  He  had  always  made  himself,  equally 
with  the  Father,  the  object  of  their  religious  trust 
(see  e.g.  John  iii.  14-18;  Matt.  iv.  19;  Mark  i.  40;  ii. 
5  ;  John  v.  23  ;  Luke  vii.  9,  47  ;  viii.  25  ;  Matt.  ix.  28  ; 
xi.  28-30  ;  xvi.  16-18 ;  John  vi.  47-57,  69  ;  Mark  ix. 
23 ;  Luke  x.  22,  etc.).  Now,  with  his  career  before 
them  as  a  whole,  the  object  was  fully  presented  on 
which  their  faith  and  love  might  be  fixed  so  as  to  be 
fruitful  in  a  new  religion. 

18.  It  is  affirmed  by  Luke  that  the  disciples  began  / 
their  history,  as  an  organized  society,  in  Jerusalem, 
and  he  relates  only  appearances  of  the  risen  Lord  in  or 
near  that  city  (xxiv.  1-43).  The  first  gospel,  on  the 
other  hand,  while  narrating  the  Lord's  appearance  to 
the  women  near  the  sepulchre,  represents  the  apostles 

2 


\r 


18  RISE   OF   CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

as  receiving  the  great  commission  in  Galilee  (xxviii. 
16-20),  and  the  fourth  gospel  records  appearances  of 
Jesus  to  them  in  both  Judea  and  Galilee  (xx.,  xxi.). 
The  concluding  verses  added  to  Mark  (xvi.  9-20)  ap- 
parently have  in  mind  only  appearances  in  and  near 
Jerusalem,  but  do  not  mention  the  locality.  The 
supposition  of  some  critics  that  these  differences  dis- 
close two  originally  divergent  traditions  is,  however, 
gratuitous.  That  Jerusalem  was,  in  fact,  the  place 
from  which  the  new  religion  radiated  is  attested  not 
only  by  Luke,  but  by  the  speeches  of  others  which  he 
incorporated  in  his  narrative  (Acts  ii.  14 ;  iii.  13-15  ; 
iv.  10;  xiii.  31;  xxii.  5,  17-20;  xxvi.  10),  and  by 
the  epistles  of  Paul  (I.  Thess.  ii.  14 ;  Gal.  i.  17-19, 
22 ;  ii.  1-10 ;  Rom.  xv.  19,  26,  27)  ;  and  the  third 
evangelist  was  content  to  confine  himself  to  appear- 
ances of  Jesus  at  that  place  because  of  his  interest 
in  the  history  of  the  formation  of  the  church  as 
such.  He  does  not,  however,  deny  appearances  else- 
where. 

19.  It  is  to  be  inferred,  therefore,  that  the  disciples, 
incredulous  of  the  first  reports  of  their  Master's  res- 
urrection, and  not  yet  recovered  from  the  shock  caused 
by  his  death,  lingered  in  Jerusalem,  and  there  his  first 
appearances  were  made  to  them.  Then,  however,  the 
original  command  (Matt.  xxvi.  32  ;  Mark  xiv.  28)  to 
meet  him  in  Galilee  was  obeyed.  There  he  frequently 
appeared  to  them  and  gave  them  most  of  his  instruc- 
tions. In  Galilee  they  were  in  safety.  Being  without 
fear  of  interruption,  and  even  resuming  on  occasion 
their  former  occupations  (John  xxi.  3),  calmness  and 
courage  were  restored.  The  associations  of  Galilee 
with  the  earlier  ministry  of  Jesus   doubtless  served 


ASCENSION  OF  CHRIST  19 

also   to   preserve   the  continuity   of   their   faith   with 
his  former  teaching. 

20.  When  the  time  drew  near  for  their  mission  to  . , 
begin,  Jesus  sent  them  back  to  Jerusalem.  Their  , 
message  must  not  appear  as  a  Galilean  faith.  It 
must  link  itself  with  the  centre  of  Judaism.  They 
must  proclaim  the  Messiah  in  the  sacred  city.  He 
himself,  though  most  of  his  ministry  had  been  in 
Galilee,  had  always  regarded  Jerusalem  as  the  place 
where  alone  a  national  acceptance  or  rejection  of 
him  was  possible.  It  was,  therefore,  in  full  accord 
with  his  previous  declarations  that  he  sent  his  dis- 
ciples forth  in  his  name  from  the  capital  itself.  There 
he  again  appeared  to  them.  He  directed  them  to 
wait  for  the  enduement  of  spiritual  power  which  he 
had  promised,  and  which,  he  said,  would  not  be  long 
delayed  (Acts  i.  4-8).  For  he  was  no  more  to  appear 
to  them  as  he  had  been  doing.  He  finally  led  the 
eleven  out  over  the  Mount  of  Olives  until  Bethany  was 
in  sight  (Luke  xxiv.  50).  They  were  expectant  of 
some,  perhaps  miraculous,  manifestation  of  his  power 
in  the  near  future  by  which  he  would  overwhelm  his 
enemies  and  establish  his  kingdom  (Acts  i.  6).  In- 
stead of  this,  he  repeated  their  commission  and  then 
visibly  ascended  into  the  skies.  While  they  gazed 
upon  his  vanishing  form,  two  angels  appeared  by  their 
side  who  declared  that  he  would  return  in  like  manner 
as  he  had  gone  (Acts  i.  8-11). 

21.  The  ascension  of  their  Lord  thus  completed  the 
preparation  of  the  disciples.     While  Luke  alone  relates  ^ 
the  event,  belief  in  it  is  implied  in  the  words  of  Peter, 
"For  David  is  not  ascended  into  the  heavens"  (Acts 
ii.  34),  and  again,  "  Whom  the  heavens  must  receive" 


20  RISE   OF   CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

(Acts  iii.  21),  ill  the  vision  of  Stephen  (Acts  vii.  56), 
and  in  the  doctrine  of  the  exaltation  of  Christ  and 
his  enthronement  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  which  is 
repeatedly  adjoined  to  that  of  his  resurrection  (e.  g. 
I.  Thess.  i.  10 ;  iv.  16;  11.  Thess.  i.  7 ;  Eph.  i.  20,  21 ; 
Phil.  i.  9 ;  Col.  iii.  1).  We  are  here  concerned,  how- 
ever, to  note  its  significance  for  the  first  disciples  at 
the  time  of  its  occurrence.  It  completed  their  prepara- 
tion for  service  by  making  definite  their  idea  of  the 
relation  which  the  Lord  was  to  occupy  to  them.  They 
were  not  to  look  for  any  more  visible  appearances  until 
he  should  come,  after  their  mission  was  concluded,  to 
establish  finally  his  kingdom.  But  they  henceforth 
thought  of  him  as  not  only  risen,  but  as  enthroned  in 
heaven  and  possessed  of  all  power.  Trusting  in  his 
invisible  aid,  they  were  to  proclaim  him  to  the  world. 
He  was  henceforth  to  them  the  exalted  and  reigning 
Lord  and  King  of  the  universe.  The  ascension,  added 
to  the  resurrection,  explains  the  form  which,  as  we 
shall  see,  the  first  preaching  of  the  apostles  took. 
Luke  rightly  placed  it  at  the  beginning  of  the  Acts. 
It  completed  the  origin  of  Christianity  and  the  intro- 
duction of  apostolic  history. 


Ill 

TUE  INAUGURATION  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  JERUSALEM 

22.  The  apostles  returned  to  Jerusalem  from  their 
Lord's  ascension  to  wait  for  the  promised  Spirit,  by 
whose  power  they  were  to  be  enabled  to  do  their  ap- 
pointed work  (Acts  i.  12-14).  They  met  constantly 
in  a  private  house,  the  upper  room  of  which  was  at 
their  disposal.  It  belonged,  doubtless,  to  some  fellow- 
disciple,  and  may  have  been  the  same  in  which  Jesus 
had  observed  with  them  the  last  passover.  The  com- 
pany, however,  comprised  more  than  the  eleven  apostles. 
Mention  is  made  of  certain  women,  who  were  perhaps 
wives  of  disciples  or  others  mentioned  as  witnesses  of 
the  resurrection,  with  perhaps  still  others  who,  like 
Mary  and  Martha  of  Bethany,  had  been  followers  of 
Jesus.  Their  presence  was  a  significant  fact.  It  was 
quite  in  accord  with  the  example  set  by  Jesus  in  his 
ministry  (e.  g.  Luke  viii.  2,  3),  and  indicated  the  free 
individualism  of  the  new  movement  and  the  equal  par- 
ticipation in  its  benefits  on  the  part  of  every  believer. 
The  mother  of  Jesus  also  belonged  to  the  company, 
and  with  her  were  his  brethren.  The  latter  had  not 
believed  in  his  Messiahship  even  toward  the  close  of 
his  life  (John  vii.  5).  But  to  one  of  them,  James,  he 
had  appeared  after  his  resurrection  (I.  Cor.  xv.  7) ;  and 
doubtless  this,  with  the  other  evidence,  had  secured 
their  faith.  The  total  number  assembled  in  the  upper 
room  was  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  (Acts  i.  15). 


22  RISE   OF  CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

By  far  the  majority  were  Galileans  (Acts  ii.  7).  Two 
of  them,  Joseph  Barsabbas  and  Matthias,  had  been,  like 
the  apostles,  disciples  of  Jesus  from  the  beginning  of 
his  Galilean  ministry.  It  is  clear  that  his  command  to 
assemble  in  Jerusalem  had  caused  a  considerable  ex- 
odus of  his  followers  from  Galilee.  The  approach  of 
Pentecost  also  made  such  a  pilgrimage  the  more  natural, 
and  new-comers  joined  the  first  band.  Amid  the  gen- 
eral preparation  for  the  festival,  their  coming  attracted 
no  attention. 

23,  The  disciples,  thus  assembled,  were  in  a  state  of 
intense  expectation.  Jesus  had  promised  them  "  the 
baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  and  for  it  they  were  to  wait. 
By  it  they  were  to  be  enabled  to  proclaim  him  as 
the  triumphant  Messiah.  Belief  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  or 
the  Spirit  of  Jehovah,  was  thoroughly  Jewish,  and  had 
required  no  special  revelation  by  Jesus.  The  doctrine 
was  furnished  by  the  Old  Testament,  where  the  Spirit's 
work  in  the  divine  kingdom  is  that  of  endowing  God's 
agents  with  the  gifts  required  for  their  calling  (  OeJder, 
0.  T.  Theol.  §65).  By  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  the 
heroes  of  Israel  had  been  qualified  for  service  (e.  </. 
Judg.  iii.  10;  vi.  34;  I.  Sam.  xi.  6,  etc.)  and  .the  proph- 
ets inspired  (Hos.  ix.  7 ;  Is.  xlviii.  16 ;  Mic.  iii.  8 ; 
Zech.  vii.  12).  Isaiah,  Ezekiel,  Joel,  and  Zechariah  had 
described  the  age  of  the  Messiah  as  one  in  which  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  would  be  poured  out  abundantly  upon 
his  people.  This  Spirit,  they  had  said,  would  impart 
wisdom,  knowledge,  power,  and  devotion  (Is.  xi.  2  ; 
Joel  ii.  28,  29),  give  fruitfulness  to  Israel  (Is.  xxxii. 
15),  prompt  the  offer  of  salvation  to  all  nations  (Is. 
xlii.  l),and  bring  the  comfort  of  sah^ation  to  all  saints 
(Is.  Ixi.  1-3).     It  would  be  the  pre-eminent  possession 


WAITING  FOR   THE   SPIRIT  23 

of  the  true  Israel  (Is.  lix.  21),  the  fulness  of  the  divine 
blessing  (Is.  xliv,  3  ;  Ezek.  xxxix.  29),  the  source  of  a 
holy  (Ezek.  xxxvi.  37)  and  renewed  (Ezek.  xxxvii.  14) 
life,  and  the  power  by  which  alone  the  kingdom  would 
bo  erected  (Zech.  iv.  6).  John  the  Baptist,  assuming 
that  he  would  be  understood,  had  likewise  declared 
that  Messiah  would  come  with  the  power  of  the  Spirit 
(Matt.  iii.  11;  Mark  i.  8;  Luke  iii.  16;  John  i.  33). 
Jesus  had  added  nothing  to  this  expectation  beyond 
assuring  his  disciples  that  the  Spirit  would  descend 
upon  them  after  his  departure,  would  reveal  him  fully 
to  their  minds,  guide  them  into  the  truth,  and  enable 
them  to  testify  of  him  ;  in  short,  would  give  them  sev- 
erally the  power  needed  for  their  appointed  tasks.  It 
is  not  to  be  supposed  that  all  these  elements  of  the 
Spirit's  work  were  as  yet  present  to  the  disciples'  minds. 
But,  relying  on  the  promises,  they  expected  such  a 
bestowment  of  the  Spirit  of  God  as  would  qualify  them 
for  whatever  service  they  might  be  called  upon  to  per- 
form. They  were  thus  sensible  of  their  dependence 
upon  a  power  from  on  high  which  they  did  not  yet 
possess.  Their  ardent  desire  for  this  found  expression 
in  "  the  prayer  "  in  which  with  one  accord  they  were 
constant  (Acts  i.  14). 

24.  In  only  one  respect  did  they  further  prepare  for 
their  expected  mission.  The  treachery  of  Judas  had 
left  a  vacancy  in  the  original  number  of  the  apostles. 
Peter  proposed  that  one  of  those  who  had  been  disci- 
ples of  Jesus  from  the  beginning  of  his  Galilean  minis- 
try and  who  had  seen  him  after  his  resurrection  should 
fill  the  vacant  place.  Two  satisfied  the  conditions ; 
and,  after  prayer  to  Christ  to  indicate  his  choice,  the 
lot  was  cast,  and  Matthias,  on  whom  it  fell,  was  num- 


24  RISE   OF   CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

bered  with  the  apostles  (Acts  i.  15-26).  This  incident 
reveals  and  implies  much.  Peter  justified  his  pro- 
posal by  appealing  to  the  language  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. This  implies  that  the  Old  Testament  was  not 
only  recognized  as  authoritative,  just  as  it  was  by  all 
Jews,  but  was  already  interpreted  in  the  light  of  the 
new  faith,  for  which  it  was  believed  to  be  a  preparation. 
At  the  same  time  the  proposal  originated  in  Peter's 
own  reflection.  His  conduct,  therefore,  shows  that  it 
was  recognized  by  all  that  the  new  community  had 
been  organized  by  Christ  under  the  direction  of  a  body 
of  apostles.  Peter's  prominence  indicates  neither  that 
he  occupied  a  position  of  primacy,  nor  that  the  authority 
of  the  apostolic  body  as  a  whole  did  not  yet  exist.  His 
words  imply  quite  the  contrary.  He  was  simply  the 
most  active  leader  of  the  governing  body.  The  power 
of  further  organization  had  also,  it  is  clear,  been  left 
by  Christ  with  his  disciples.  This  alone  explains  why 
the  action  was  taken  when  the  Lord  himself  had  not 
filled  the  vacant  place.  As  yet,  however,  no  need  was 
felt  of  more  organization  than  the  restoration  of  the 
original  number  of  apostles,  whose  special  duty  of  wit- 
nessing officially  to  the  resurrection  was,  as  all  believed, 
soon  to  be  called  into  exercise. 

25.  This  incident  throws  light  on  the  primitive  con- 
ception of  the  apostolic  office  itself.  Peter  describes 
the  function  of  an  apostle  as  that  of  witnessing  to  the 
Lord's  resurrection.  Since  any  one  who  had  seen  the 
risen  Christ  could  do  this,  it  is  clear  that  a  distinction 
was  intended  between  official  and  private  testimony, 
and  that  on  the  former,  as  has  already  been  shown,  the 
faith  of  the  world  was  expected  to  rest.  But  the  quali- 
fications for  the  office  mentioned  by  Peter  imply  still 


ORIGINAL   CONCEPTION  OF   THE   APOSTOLATE      25 

more.  An  apostle  must  have  beeu  a  disciple  of  Jesus 
throughout  his  ministry  from  the  close  of  that  of  the 
Baptist.  Tliis  evidently  assumes  that  he  was  to  teach 
Christ's  whole  message,  life,  and  work,  which  alone, 
indeed,  made  the  resurrection  of  unique  importance. 
With  this  accords  Peter's  subsequent  speeches  (Acts  ii. 
22 ;  X.  39-42),  and  the  actual  position  of  the  apostles  as 
teachers  in  the  early  church  (Acts  ii.  42 ;  vi.  4  ;  Matt, 
xxviii.  20  ;  I.  Cor.  ix.  1 ;  II.  Cor.  x.  5)  as  well  as  their 
testimony  about  Christ  found  in  the  gospels  (see  Luke 
i.  2).  Moreover,  the  language  of  the  psalm,  quoted  by 
Peter  (Acts  i.  20),  "  his  overseership  let  another  take," 
implies  that  the  office  was  regarded  as  charged  with 
the  management  of  the  church.  It  is  thus  evident 
not  only  from  Luke's  narrative,  but  from  the  language 
of  others  quoted  by  him,  that  the  body  of  apostles  were 
recognized  from  the  beginning  as  the  authoritative 
heads  of  the  Christian  community.  /To  the  world  they 
were  the  official  witnesses  of  the  resurrection  ;  to  the 
church,  its  official  instructors  and  overseers. .,  This 
agrees  with  their  original  appointment  by  Jesus  (sect. 
7),  nor  can  the  special  promise  of  the  Spirit  (John  xiv. 
26 ;  XV.  26,  27 ;  xvi.  13)  to  qualify  them  for  their  office 
have  been  forgotten.  The  actual  selection  of  Matthias 
was,  moreover,  accomplished,  as  in  no  other  case,  by  the 
use  of  the  lot,  since  an  apostle  had  to  be  chosen  by  the 
Lord  himself  (comp.  Acts  i.  2  ;  x.  41 ;  I.  Cor.  ix.  1 ; 
Gal.  i.  12,  etc.) ;  and  Luke  evidently  intends  us  to 
understand  that  Matthias  became  a  recognized  member 
of  the  apostolic  body. 

26.  We  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  apostolate,  thus 
defined,  was  an  original  institution.  The  subsequent 
addition  of  Paul,  since  he  was  qualified  in  an  excep- 


26  RISE   OF   CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

tional  manner,  did  not  alter  the  primitive  conception 
(I.  Cor.  ix.  1  ;  xv.  8-10;  Gal.  i.  1,  11-15).  Still  less 
does  the  occasional  use  of  the  term  in  a  broader  sense 
(Acts  xiv.  4,  14  ;  II.  Cor.  viii.  23 ;  Phil.  ii.  25 ;  and  ac- 
cording to  some  Acts  ix.  27  ;  Gal.  i.  19  ;  I.  Cor.  xv.  7; 
Rom.  xvi.  7),  or  the  special  prominence  of  some  of  the 
twelve,  or  the  use  of  the  term  in  the  "  Teaching  of 
the  Apostles"  (about  a. d.  100)  to  denote  travelling 
missionaries,  conflict  with  the  representation  here 
given. 

27.  The  feast  of  Pentecost  was  the  second  of  the 
three  chief  Mosaic  festivals.  It  fell  on  the  fiftieth  day 
after  the  second  day  (Nisan  16th)  of  the  passover.  It 
celebrated  the  completion  of  the  grain  harvest.  In  the 
Old  Testament  it  is  called  the  feast  of  harvest  (Ex. 
xxiii.  16)  or  of  weeks  (Ex.  xxxiv.  22)  and  the  day  of  the 
first  fruits  (Nam.  xxviii.  26).  Special  offerings  were 
made,  and  two  leavened  loaves  of  wheat  breads  signifi- 
cant of  the  finished  harvest,  together  with  two  lambs 
as  peace-offerings,  were  waved  before  the  Lord.  It  was 
a  popular  and  joyful  festival.  Multitudes  of  Jews,  not 
only  from  Palestine  but  from  abroad,  attended  the 
celebration.  :  If  passover  reminded  them  of  their  re- 
demption from  the  land  of  bondage,  Pentecost  cele- 
brated their  possession  of  the  land  of  promise.  Among 
the  later  Jews  it  also  celebrated  the  giving  of  the  law 
at  Sinai ;  but  that  idea  apparently  did  not  attach  to  it 
at  the  time  of  which  we  are  writing.  Gladness  and 
gratitude  were  the  keynotes  of  the  festival. 

28.  According  to  Acts,  it  was  on  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost that  the  promised  Spirit  descended  on  the  dis- 
ciples and  the  career  of  the  Christian  community 
was  inaugurated.     The  expression  "  when  the  day  of 


THE   DAY   OF  PENTECOST  27 

Pentecost  was  being  fnlfilled"  (Acts  ii.  1,  R.  V. 
marg.)  is  to  be  nnderstood  as  distinctly  affirming  that 
the  event  occurred  during  that  day.  We  learn  from 
Peter's  words  (Acts  ii.  15)  that  it  was  early  in  the 
morning,  soon  after  the  temple  ritual  had  been  con- 
cluded. The  determination  of  the  day  of  the  week 
depends  on  the  date  assigned  to  the  crucifixion  of 
Jesus.  If  he  died  on  Nisan  14th,  the  resurrection  was 
on  the  16th,  and  Pentecost  likewise  fell  on  Sunday. 
If,  however,  he  died  on  Nisan  15th,  Pentecost  fell  on 
Saturday.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  Jews  would 
not  observe  Pentecost  on  the  third,  fifth,  or  seventh 
days  of  the  week,  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  this  rule 
at  the  time  of  which  we  are  treating  (comp.  Ideler, 
Handb.  der  Chronol.  I.  p.  637).  We  think  it  most 
probable  that  this  Pentecost  was  on  Saturday,  and  that 
the  later  custom  of  commemorating  it  on  Sunday  arose 
from  considerations  of  ecclesiastical  convenience,  espe- 
cially from  the  wish  to  observe  it  fifty  days  after 
Easter  (comp.  Wieseler,  Chron.  d.  Apost.  Zeitalters, 
pp.  19-21).  Nine  days,  therefore,  after  the  Lord's  as- 
cension his  promise  was  fulfilled. 

29.    On   that   day    the    disciples,   having   doubtless 
returned  from  the  temple  services,  were  assembled  in     j..^^ 
the    upper    room.     Suddenly   they   heard    a    roaring     - 
sound,  like  that  of  a  rushing  wind,  coming  from  above. 
It  filled  the  whole  house  where  they  were  gathered.     ,   v  ^ 
Immediately  also  a  small  tongue,  having  the  semblance   !    '^ 
of  fire,  appeared  resting  upon  the  head  of  each  disciple. 
At  the  same  time  tlieir  minds  were  filled  with  joyous 
exultation  and  spiritual  enlightenment ;   and,  realizing 
that  the  promise  had  begun  to  be  fulfilled,  they  broke 
forth  with  one  impulse  into  ecstatic  praise   of   God. 


28  RISE   OF   CHRISTIANITY  EN  JERUSALEM 

But  the  noise  from  heaven  had  been  heard  by  others 
in  the  crowded  streets,  and  a  number  soon  gathered 
before  the  house.  We  may  suppose,  also,  that  the  dis- 
ciples, confident  that  the  time  to  proclaim  the  Messiah 
had  arrived,  willingly  went  out  from  the  upper  room 
into  the  street,  and  finally,  perhaps,  into  one  of  the 
outer  courts  or  porches  of  the  temple.  Their  praises 
continued  and  the  audience  increased.  The  latter  was 
composed  of  such  varied  elements  as  might  be  found 
always  in  Jerusalem  and  especially  at  a  festival  (see 
Josephus,  Antiq.  xvii.  10.  2;  B.  J.  11.  3.  1).  That 
many  foreign-born  Jews  had  taken  up  permanent  resi- 
dence in  the  holy  city  is  attested  by  the  synagogues 
which  they  had  established  there  (Acts  vi.  9 ;  tSehurer, 
HJP.  II.  1.  p.  49).  A  graphic  portrayal  of  the  va- 
riety of  countries  represented  is  given  by  Luke  in 
the  summary  of  expressions  of  astonishment  which  he 
puts  into  the  lips  of  the  assembled  crowd  (Acts  ii. 
7-11).  This  astonishment  was  caused  by  the  fact 
yT  that  the  Galileans  uttered  their  praises  of  God  in  the 
languages  of  the  various  countries  from  which  the 
listeners  came.  Such  is  clearly  Luke's  statement 
(Acts  ii.  8,  11).  We  are  doubtless  to  understand 
tbat  some  spoke  in  one  language  and  others  in  others, 
so  that  each  foreigner  found  himself  in  the  presence 
of  one  or  more  using  his  native  tongue.  This  miracle 
served  to  increase  the  number  and  wonder  of  the 
audience.  Some,  indeed,  mocked  at  the  confusion  of 
sounds  and  said,  "  These  men  are  full  of  new  wine." 
But  the  majority  took  the  matter  more  seriously. 
The  praises  of  the  disciples  do  not  appear  to  have 
ceased  until  Peter,  standing  forth  with  the  other 
apostles,  addressed  the  assemblage. 


PETER'S   ADDRESS  AT  PENTECOST  29 

oO.  The  apostle's  address  consisted  first  of  an  ^ 
ioxi)lanation  of  the  phenomenon.  It  was,  he  said,  the 
fulfihnent  of  Joel's  prediction  of  the  outpouring  of 
the  Spirit  upon  Israel  before  the  Messianic  judgment 
sliould  take  place.  It  denoted  the  renewal  of  Israel, 
the  arrival  of  the  day  of  salvation,  and  the  impending 
retribution  which  Messiah  would  visit  on  unbelievers 
(Acts  ii.  15-21).  Thereupon  Peter  proclaimed  Jesus 
to  be  Messiah.  He  rehearsed  God's  attestation  of  him 
l)y  miracles,  and  described  his  crucifixion  as  a  crime 
which,  nevertheless,  God  had  intended  to  come  to  pass. 
Tlien  he  declared  his  resurrection  (22-24).  He  next 
entered  on  an  argument  to  prove  that  a  dying  and 
risen  Messiah  had  been  foretold  in  Scripture.  David 
had  foreseen  such  (Ps.  xvi.  8-11),  and  his  words  of 
hope  after  death  had  referred  to  his  promised  Seed 
(25-31).  Hence  the  apostle  concluded  by  a  renewed 
declaration  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  and  of  his 
exaltation  to  the  right  hand  of  God.  He,  being  now 
enthroned,  as  had  also  been  predicted  of  him  (Ps.  ex.), 
had  given  the  promised  Spirit  to  his  disciples.  All 
Israel  should  therefore  know  that  the  one  whom  they 
had  crucified  was  their  Messiah  and  Lord  (32-36). 
This  noble  address,  which  was  followed  by  other 
exhortations,  made  a  profound  impression.  The  con- 
ditions of  salvation  which  the  apostle  announced  — 
repentance  for  sin  and  baptism  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
as  the  Christ  —  were  simple  and  natural,  and  involved 
no  rupture  with  the  existing  state  or  church.  So  faith 
was  awakened  in  many  minds,  and  the  close  of  the  day 
of  Pentecost  saw  the  little  band  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  expanded  into  a  company  of  about  three 
thousand   (Acts  ii.  41). 


30  KISE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  JERUSALEM 

V  31.  This  account  of  the  formal  inauguration  of 
Christianity  in  Jerusalem  has,  of  course,  been  the  sub- 
ject of  criticism.  It  is  evident,  however,  that  some 
great  spiritual  quickening  must  have  occurred,  if  we 
are  to  account  for  the  subsequent  activity  of  the  dis- 
ciples and  for  the  large  number  of  Jews  who,  by  all 
reports,  speedily  accepted  the  new  faith  (see  e.  g.  Acts 
V.  28  ;  viii.  1-3  ;  Gal.  i.  22,  etc.).  Furthermore,  while 
the  speeches  of  Peter  do  not  describe  the  external 
events  of  Pentecost,  they  do  refer  to  the  outpouring 
of  the  Spirit  as  a  fact  which  was  manifest  to  the  eyes 
and  ears  of  spectators  (Acts  ii.  17,  33  ;  iii.  19  ;  x.  46, 
47).  That  the  presence  of  the  Spirit  was  usually 
evidenced  in  the  apostolic  churches  not  only  by  the 
quickening  of  faith  and  by  boldness  and  devotion  in 
service,  but  also  by  miraculous  powers  and  by  inspired 
utterances  of  various  kinds,  is  amply  attested  by  the 
epistles  of  Paul  (e.  g.  I.  Cor.  xii.,  xiv. ;  Gal.  iii.  5),  and 
this  makes  it  probable  that  the  beginnings  of  Christi- 
anity in  Jerusalem  were  attended  by  similar  phenom- 
ena ;  while  the  established  observance  of  Pentecost  in 
the  second  century  (comp.  also  Acts  xx.  16)  as  a 
Christian  festival  must  have  been  based  on  some  mo- 
mentous fact  which  occurred  on  that  day. 

32.  Nor  need  the  large  number  of  converts  cause 
surprise,  if  the  whole  situation  be  realized.  The 
death  of  Jesus  was  recent,  and  the  consciousness  that 
a  national  crime  had  been  committed  in  his  crucifix- 
ion was  easily  aroused  (Acts  ii.  23  ;  iii.  13 ;  iv.  9 ;  v. 
30).  The  remembrance  of  his  teaching  and  miracles 
was  still  fresh,  and  to  it  appeal  was  constantly  made  by 
the  apostles  (Acts  ii.  22;  iii.  14;  x.  38).  The  nation 
had  lono-  been  in  a  fever  of  excitement  and  was  re- 


CRITICISMS  OF  LUKE'S  NARKxiTIVE  31 

sponsive,  especially  at  tlie  feasts,  to  every  appeal  made 
on  patriotic  or  religious  grounds  (comp.  Acts  v.  34-39). 
The  confident  testimony  of  the  disciples  to  the  resur- 
rection of  Jesus  would  be  the  more  readily  believed 
because  of  the  remembrance  of  his  former  miracles. 
Their  exultant  praises,  with  the  strange  phenomena 
which  attended  them,  deepened  the  impression.  Their 
appeal  to  prophecy  made  their  faith  seem  genuinely 
Hebrew.  Possibly  also  the  new  converts  numbered 
not  a  few  from  both  Galilee  and  Judea  who  had  previ- 
ously been  followers  or  admirers  of  Jesus.  If  we  add 
the  quickening  of  conscience  under  the  power  of  the 
Spirit,  it  is  not  difficult  to  comprehend  the  motives 
which  led  so  many  to  yield  obedience  to  the  apostle's 
summons. 

33.  Finally,  the  miraculous  incidents  of  this  event 
will  not  appear  incredible  to  one  who  accepts  the  mira- 
cles and  resurrection  of  Jesus.  The  account  of  "  the 
tongues "  at  Pentecost  has  indeed  been  thought  by 
some,  who  are  not  otherwise  opposed  to  the  miraculous, 
to  betray  legendary  embellishment.  There  should  be 
no  doubt  that  Luke  affirms  that  the  utterances  were 
in  foreign  languages.  The  view  that  the  miracle  lay 
in  the  minds  of  the  hearers  (see  Wendt,  Kommentar) 
is  opposed  by  his  express  statements  (Acts  ii.  4,  8,  11). 
But  of  such  speaking  in  foreign  languages  there  is  no 
description  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament.  Paul, 
on  the  other  hand,  speaks  of  the  "  gift  of  tongues  "  as 
a  frequent  possession  of  believers  when  under  the 
power  of  the  Spirit.  He  gives  (I.  Cor.  x.  12;  xiv.) 
directions  for  its  regulation  in  public  assemblies,  and 
it  would  appear  from  his  language  that  the  gift  mani- 
fested itself  iu  unintelligible  ejaculations  of  praise  or 


32  RISE   OF  CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

prayer.  He  distinguishes  it  from  prophecy,  which 
was  the  inspired  utterance  of  truth  in  the  language 
of  the  hearers.  The  gift  of  "  tongues  "  needed  the 
correlative  gift  of  "  interpretation,"  if  it  was  to  be 
profitable  to  any  but  the  speaker  himself.  It  does  not 
seem  possible,  however,  to  believe  that  the  unintelli- 
gibility  of  the  "tongue"  was  due  to  its  utterances 
being  in  a  foreign  language.  Paul  uses  languages  as 
an  illustration  of  the  gift  (I.  Cor.  xiv.  10,  11),  which 
must,  therefore,  have  been  different  from  the  thing  used 
to  illustrate  it ;  and  he  regards  it  by  no  means  as  a 
possible  instrument  of  missionary  work,  but  as  a  spirit- 
ual exercise  profitable  only  to  the  speaker  (I.  Cor.  xiv. 
14,  28).  It  is  possible  that  in  his  quotation  (I.  Cor. 
xiv.  21)  from  Isaiah,  "  By  men  of  strange  tongues  and 
by  the  lips  of  strangers  will  I  speak  unto  this  people," 
he  betrays  a  reminiscence  of  Pentecost;  but  his  de- 
scription of  the  "  tongues  "  in  Corinth  is  hardly  con- 
sistent with  the  idea  that  they  were  utterances  in 
foreign  languages. 

34.  Now  the  Pentecostal  "  tongues"  present  in  many 
respects  similar  characteristics  to  those  described  by 
Paul.  Their  utterances  were  not  preaching  but  praise. 
They  were  the  expression  of  a  highly  exalted  state  of 
mind.  Neither  is  it  likely  that  two  gifts  so  nearly 
alike  should  have  existed  and  yet  have  been  funda- 
mentally different.  Both  Peter  at  Pentecost  and  Paul 
to  the  Corinthians  explain  the  utterances  as  warnings 
to  unbelievers.  Moreover,  Luke  liimself  elsewhere  re- 
fers to  "  speaking  with  tongues  "  in  a  way  which  shows 
that  he  was  acquainted  with  the  gift  which  Paul 
describes ;  yet  in  one  place  he  seems  clearly  to  iden- 
tify it  with  the  tongues  of  Pentecost  (Acts  x.  46 ;  xix. 


THE   TENTECOSTAL   TONGUES  33 

6).  The  very  term  "  tongue "  to  describe  the  gift 
would  seem  also  to  point  to  some  such  event  as  tliat 
of  Fentecost.  It  is  altogether  probable,  therefore,  that 
the  Pentecostal  tongues  were  the  introduction  of  this 
''  gift."  But,  if  so,  then  the  utterances  at  Pentecost 
diifered  in  form  from  the  gift  as  we  find  it  at  Corinth. 
This,  liowcver,  should  by  no  means  be  regarded  as  im- 
probable or  as  impeaching  Luice's  accuracy.  It  is 
quite  possible  that  on  other  occasions  the  gift  took 
a  different  form  from  that  in  Corinth,  and  there  were 
certainly  special  reasons  why  it  should  at  Pentecost 
take  the  form  which  Luke  reports.  It  had  been  the 
express  command  of  Jesus  that  his  disciples  should 
carry  his  message  to  all  nations,  and  the  expectation 
of  doing  this  lay  already  in  their  minds.  What  more 
natural  than  that  the  Spirit,  in  inaugurating  the 
church,  should  indicate  the  universality  of  the  Mes- 
sianic reign,  wliich  was  to  find  ultimate  expression  in 
the  praises  to  God  of  all  mankind  ?  Moreover,  Peter 
himself  (Acts  ii.  18)  regarded  the  utterances  as  a  form 
of  prophecy,  so  that  they  must  on  that  occasion  have 
been  intelligible ;  and  this  inference  is  rendered  the 
more  cogent  by  the  fact  that  the  words,  "  they  shall 
prophesy,"  are  not  found  in  Joel,  but  are  an  addition 
by  the  apostle  himself. 

35.  The  statements,  therefore,  of  so  careful  an  his- 
torian as  Luke  should  not  be  doubted.  The  praises  of 
the  disciples  not  only  uttered  their  own  lofty  joy  at 
the  coming  of  the  promise,  but  expressed  in  the  very 
forms  of  their  utterances  the  universal  reign  of  the 
true  Messiah.  The  symbolism  of  the  sound-like  wind 
from  heaven  was  manifestly  appropriate  to  denote  the 
coming   of  the   Spirit.      It   indicated   his   source,  his 

3 


^  i 


34  RISE   OF   CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

power,  his  mysterious,  invisible  operation.  The  fire- 
like appearance  of  the  tongues  emblemized  the  puri- 
fying character  of  his  inlluence  (conip.  Matt.  iii.  11). 
The  tongues  themselves,  distributed  on  the  heads  of 
the  disciples,  indicated  the  universal  possession  of  the 
Hpirit  by  all  believers,  and  that  boldness  of  access  to 
God  was  now  their  privilege.  So,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
form  of  the  inspired  utterances  expressed  the  truth  that 
not  a  Jewish  but  a  universal  kingdom  of  God  had  been 
established.  All  this  had  been  done  by  the  power  of 
the  risen  and  exalted  Christ.  Christianity,  therefore, 
was  not  a  natural  evolution  out  of  the  teachings  and 
career  of  Jesus.  The  human  agents  acted  in  full  ac- 
cordance with  their  natural  dispositions  and  under  the 
immediate  influence  of  the  historical  situation  in  which 
they  were  placed.  But  in  its  deepest  essence,  Chris- 
tianity was  inaugurated  by  the  supernatural  operation 
of  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  This  is  the  testimony  of  the 
documents;  and  of  such  an  operation  the  miraculous 
incidents  of  Pentecost  were  appropriate  emblems. 


IV 


INTERNAL  PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHFRCH  IN  JERUSALEM 
AFTER    PENTECOST 

36.  The  enlarged  and  increasing  (Acts  ii.  47)  body 
of  believers  continued  to  form  a  closely  united  com- 
pany. They  were  not  only  bound  together  by  their 
common  faith  in  Jesus,  but  they  constituted  an  ac- 
tual society  under  the  direction  and  instruction  of 
the  apostles  (Acts  ii.  42).  They  met  daily  for  "  the 
prayers  "  (ibid.')  which  as  Jews  they  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  offer  but  which  had  now  obtained  new 
import  and  value.  They  also  liad  together,  probably 
in  the  evening  (Acts  xx.  7),  daily  meals  at  their  homes 
(Acts  ii.  42,  46),  —  the  "love  feasts"  of  a  later  time 
(Jude  12),  —  which  were  concluded  by  the  observance 
of  the  memorial  rite  which. Jesus  had  instituted  on  the 
night  of  his  betrayal  (I.  Cor.  xi.  18-29).  In  their  as- 
semblies they  constantly  received  instruction  from  the 
apostles  (Acts  ii.  42 ;  vi.  2),  who  were  recognized  as 
the  Spirit-taught  guides  of  the  rest.  The  instruction 
consisted,  doubtless,  of  the  recital  of  Jesus'  life  and 
teaching  and  the  exposition  of  the  Old  Testament. 
New  members  were  received,  after  repentance  and  the 
confession  of  faith  in  Jesus,  by  the  rite  of  ba])tism. 
This  was  in  accordance  with  the  express  command  of 
Christ  (Matt,  xxviii.  19).     The  administration  of  it  was 


36  RISE   OF  CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

not  always  performed  by  the  apostles  (Acts  viii.  16,  38). 
Probably  any  disciple  felt  himself  at  liberty  thus  to 
welcome  a  new  believer.  Nor  is  it  clear  what  formula, 
or  whether  any  unvarying  one,  was  used.  In  Acts  and 
the  epistles,  baptism  is  said  to  have  been  in  or  on  the 
name  of  Christ,  or  as  into  Christ  (Acts  ii.  38  ;  viii.  16  ; 
X.  48  ;  xix.  6  ;  Rom.  vi.  3  ;  Gal.  iii.  27).  Possibly,  how- 
ever, these  phrases  do  not  describe  a  formula,  but  the 
truth  which  the  baptized  professed  and  the  relationship 
into  which  he  entered.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  possi- 
ble that  the  words  of  Christ  (Matt,  xxviii.  19)  were  not 
at  first  regarded  as  a  liturgical  formula.  They  are 
primarily  a  statement  of  the  threefold  faith  which 
summarizes  the  teaching  of  Jesus  (sect.  16).  The 
first  record  of  their  use  in  baptism  is  in  the  "  Teaching 
of  the  Apostles"  (ab.  a. d.  100).  But,  whatever  the 
formula  employed,  the  recipients  of  baptism  penitently 
accepted  Jesus  as  their  Messiah,  and  expected  to  obtain 
from  the  Father  and  his  Son  remission  of  sins  and  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

37.  Meanwhile  the  Spirit  continued  to  manifest 
his  power  among  them.  The  apostles  wrought  many 
miracles,  chiefly  of  healing,  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
(Acts  ii.  43 ;  iii.  6,  7 ;  v.  12-16),  which  were  re- 
garded as  God's  attestation  of  their  teaching  and 
office  (iv.  29,  30)  ;  and  "with  great  power  they  gave 
witness  of  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus "  (iv. 
33).  Others  of  the  disciples  also,  as  Joseph  Barnabas 
(iv.  36)  and  Stephen  (vi.  8,  9),  were  conspicuous  in 
word  or  miracle  or  both.  No  doubt,  too,  though  Luke 
does  not  mention  it,  the  company  as  a  whole  en- 
joyed such  "  spiritual  gifts  "  as  we  read  of  later  in 
the  church  of  Corinth  (comp.  Heb.  ii.  4).     But  still 


LIFE   OF  THE   PRIMITIVE   DISCIPLES  37 

more  impressive  was  the  spectacle  of  their  intense 
religious  joy.  This  also  was  the  Spirit's  work.  The 
sense  of  salvation  already  attained  broke  the  hard 
shell  of  formal  Judaism  and  revived  the  genuine  life 
of  Israel,  as  psalmists  and  prophets  had  described  it. 
The  faith  in  a  living  and  reigning  Messiah  ended  the 
doubt  and  feebleness  which  had  long  fallen  on  the 
nation's  hope.  Joy  and  love  were  the  most  marked 
features  of  the  disciples'  life  (Acts  ii.  46),  and  only 
increased  with  the  rise  of  peril  from  the  (fivil  author- 
ities (Acts  iv.  23-37).  What  the  future  might  be, 
and  how  long  Jesus  would  remain  in  heaven,  they 
did  not  know.  But  they  knew  that  their  present 
task  was  to  convince  the  nation  of  his  Messiahship. 
They  believed  that  the  great  crisis,  for  weal  or  woe, 
had  come  to  Israel ;  that  salvation  for  nation  and 
individual  lay  in  repentance  and  faith  toward  Jesus; 
and  for  some  time  they  evidently  hoped  that  the  nation 
would  be  converted  to  their  belief. 

38.  One  feature  of  the  movement  calls  for  special 
notice.  The  disciples  considered  all  their  worldly 
property  to  be  at  the  service  of  the  community  and 
freely  parted  with  it  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  breth- 
ren. At  first  this  seems  to  have  been  done  only  when 
special  cases  of  need  arose  (Acts  ii.  45).  But  there 
must  have  been  many  such  occasions.  The  majority 
were  probably  from  the  poorer  classes.  Others,  like 
the  Galileans,  had  left  their  homes  and  occupations. 
The  service  of  the  cause,  no  doubt,  often  entailed 
pecuniary  loss.  At  any  rate  the  occasions  for  such 
beneficence  seem  for  a  while  to  have  increased,  so 
that  the  sale  of  property  became  general.  The  pro- 
ceeds were  given  to  the  apostles  and  distribution  made 


38  RISE  OF   CHRISTIANITY  IN  JERUSALEM 

to  those  in  need  (Acts  iv.  34,  85).  We  read  also  of 
a  "  daily  ministration "  of  supplies  to  the  widows  of 
the  community.  These  were  probably  not  the  only 
ones  thus  cared  for.  They  are,  mentioned  because  in 
their  case  a  difficulty  arose  (vi.  1).  At  the  same  time 
there  is  no  indication  in  the  descriptions  given  of  this 
liberality  that  it  was  imposed  as  a  law,  or  that  tlie 
possession  of  private  property  was  considered  improper. 
On  the  contrary,  Ananias  was  reminded  that  his 
property  was  wholly  in  his  own  power.  Neither  can 
the  liberality  be  traced  to  any  other  motive  than  love. 
It  is  possible  that  belief  in  the  near  approach  of  the 
second  advent  may  have  operated  with  some.  It  is 
possible  that  others  may  have  been  moved  by  the 
remembrance  of  certain  teachings  of  Jesus  (e.  g.  Matt, 
xix.  21  ;  Luke  xi.  38),  or  by  the  common  purse  which 
the  Master  and  his  disciples  had.  But  the  dominant 
motive  was  clearly  love,  born  of  the  joy  of  their  great 
salvation.  It  is  quite  gratuitous  also  to  see  in  this 
practical  communism  a  sign  of  Essenic  influence,  since 
the  most  characteristic  features  of  the  Essene  mode 
of  life  do  not  appear  among  the  disciples  (comp. 
Schurer,  HJP.  II.  2.  p.  188),  and  since  the  causes 
lying  within  the  Christian  life  itself  are  abundantly 
sufficient  to  account  for  the  result.  Indeed  we  can- 
not suppose  that  the  sale  of  property  was  absolutely 
universal,  nor  that  it  continued  to  the  extent  to  which 
it  was  at  first  practised ;  for  we  afterwards  read  that 
Mary,  the  mother  of  Mark,  owned  a  house  in  Jerusalem 
(Acts  xii.  12),  and  distinctions  between  rich  and  poor 
are  known  to  liave  continued  among  Jewish  Christians 
generally  (Jas.  ii.  2,  8 ;  Gal.  ii.  10).  We  may  believe 
rather  that  the  enthusiasm  was  checked,  or  at  least 


NO   RUPTURE   WITH  JUDAISM  39 

regulated,  when  experience  proved  the  injurious  con- 
sequences to  which  its  abuse  might  lead.  Nevertheless 
this  feature  of  early  Jerusalem  Christianity  power- 
fully exhibited  the  entire  devotion  and  the  unbounded 
brotherly  love  which  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  produced  in 
the  disciples. 

39.  /In  spite,  however,  of  the  strong  bonds  by  which 
they  we're  united,  there  was  as  yet  no  rupture  Avith  the 
national  worship.  On  the  contrary,  the  temple  services, 
which  they  frequented  (Luke  xxiv.  53 ;  Acts  ii.  46  ; 
iii.  1),  must  have  been  filled  with  fresh  meaning  to  the 
disciples,  and  the  outer  courts  and  porches  of  the  temple 
were  the  places  where  the  apostles  commonly  preached ") 
(Acts  iii.  11 ;  v.  12,  20).  The  new  movement,  in  fact, 
seemed  a  genuine  revival  of  Hebrew  faith,  and  none  as 
yet  imagined,  however  much  it  involved  a  condemnation 
of  the  rulers  for  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus,  that  it  involved 

a  breach  with  Judaism  itself.  It  appeared  rather  a 
spiritual  interpretation  of  Judaism.  This  gave  it  the 
more  favor  with  the  people.  The  apostles  stood  forth 
as  the  leaders  of  a  movement  which  honored  above  all 
the  God  of  Israel  (Acts  v.  12-14).  Hence  even  the 
Pharisees  do  not  seem  to  have  actively  opposed  them ; 
and  in  course  of  time  many  priests,  the  number  of  which 
in  Jerusalem  was  very  large,  accepted  the  new  faith 
(Acts  vi.  7).  Thus,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the 
Sadducees,  to  be  mentioned  presently,  the  outlook  was 
favorable,  and  the  impression  was  strengthened  among 
the  disciples  that  Israel's  golden  age  had  at  last  dawned. 

40.  Yet  all  was  not  ideal  even  within  the  Christian 
community  itself.  Two  incidents  broke  the  harmony. 
One  was  the  attempt  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira  to  pose 
before  the   brethren  as   having-   devoted   their   entire 


40  RISE   OF  CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

property  to  the  cause,  when  in  reality  they  gave  only  a 
portion  (Acts  v.  1-11).  It  was  an  offence  against  the 
very  spirit  by  which  the  community  was  organized ;  for 
it  exhibited  falsehood,  worldhness,  and  essential  unbe- 
lief. Hence  their  sin,  detected  by  Peter,  was  visited 
by  God  with  awful  punishment.  This  was  intended  to 
be  a  solemn  warning  to  others  of  the  sincerity  which 
the  Lord  demanded.  It  enhanced  also  the  authority 
of  the  apostles.  The  incident  further  shows  that  the 
spiritual  life  of  the  disciples,  even  in  the  freshness  of 
its  first  days,  was  not  exempt  from  commonplace 
temptation  and  was  liable  to  fall  before  it.  Neither 
was  it  a  life  of  fanatical  enthusiasm.  It  was  as  sensible 
of  ethical  duty  as  it  was  exuberant  with  spiritual  hope. 

41.  Later  on,  complaints  arose  on  the  part  of  the 
Greek-speaking  Jews  that  the  widows  belonging  to  their 
part  of  the  community  were  being  neglected  in  the 
daily  ministration  of  supplies  (Acts  vi.  1).  Thus,  as  in 
the  case  of  Ananias,  the  attempt  to  put  in  operation  a 
practically  common  life  proved  liable  to  produce  spir- 
itual dangers.  (^The  complaint  of  the  Hellenists,  more- 
over, touched  a  phase  of  the  situation  which  was  likely 
to  become  serious,  and  led  to  the  first  step  in  the  fur- 
ther organization  of  the  new  community. 

42.  Thus  far  the  apostles  had  been  the  only  officials 
of  the  infant  church.  They  had,  doubtless,  with  the 
increase  of  converts  and  duties,  used  subordinates  in 
the  administration  of  affairs,  and  "  the  young  men  " 
who  carried  away  the  bodies  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira 
(Acts  V.  6, 10)  may  indicate  the  class  oftenest  employed. 
The  terms  used  of  them,  however,  show  that  they  did 
not  constitute  an  office ;  and  as  the  disciples  still  re- 
tained their  connection  with  the  synagogues  (vi.  9),  no 


APPOINTMENT  OF   "THE   SEVEN"  41 

need  of  special  organization  of  their  own  was  felt.     In 
fact  it  would  have  implied  a  breach  with  Judaism  which 
as  jet  was  foreign  to  their  thoughts.     The  complaint  of 
the  Hellenists,  however,  suggested  to  the  apostles  the 
necessity  of  some  arrangement  to  meet  the  difficulty  ; 
and  this  was  accomplished  in  a  way  which  satisfied  all 
parties  and  liarmonized  with  both  the  supremacy  of  the 
apostles  and  the  rights  of  the  community.  (^  Seven  men 
were  chosen  by  the  brethren  and  were  set  apart  to  the 
work  by  the  imposition  of  the  hands  of  tlie  apostles.; 
Thus  the  apostles  again  appear  as  the  authoritative 
founders  of  the  church,  whose  special  function,  however, 
Avas  teaching.    The  advance  in  organization,  it  should  be 
noted,  was  brought  about  by  the  pressure  of  practical 
needs  and  without  reference  to  any  previous  program. 
The  whole  congregation  were  recognized  as  having  the 
right  to  choose  their  officials.     But  the  step  was  a  most 
important  one,  for  it  was  the  first  in  the  solidification 
of  the  disciples  into  a  society  separate  from  the  syna- 
gogue. 

43.  All  the  seven  men  chosen  for  the  new  office 
had,  singularly  enough,  Greek  names.  It  would  be  too 
much  to  infer  that  all  were  Hellenists.  But  some  of 
them  were,  and  one  was  even  a  proselyte.  The  choice 
of  them  manifests,  therefore,  the  spirit  of  love  and 
unity  which  prevailed.  JThey  had  for  their  work  specifi- 
cally the  distribution  of  the  common  funds.  No  title 
is  given  to  their  office  by  Luke,  nor  can  it  be  shown 
that  it  was  modelled  after  any  in  the  synagogue.-'* 
Since,  however,  we  afterwards  find  in  the  Pauline 
churches  the  office  of  deacon  (Phil.  i.  1 ;  I.  Tim.  iii.  8), 
the  function  of  which  was  the  care  of  the  poor,  and 
since   the   Pauline  churches  were  modelled  naturally 


42  KISE   OF   CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

after  the  Jewish-Christian,  it  is  not  improbable  that 
among  the  latter  the  office  of  "the  seven"  developed 
into  one  which  had  the  care  of  the  poor  generally,  and 
obtained  by  pre-eminence  the  title  of  deacon  or  minister. 
This  supposition  may  seem  to  be  opposed  by  the  silence 
of  Acts  on  the  subject  of  "  deacons  "  and  by  the  fact 
that  the  gifts  from  Antioch  for  the  poor  in  Judea  are 
said  to  have  been  sent  to  the  elders  (Acts  xi.  30)  ;  but 
it  may  be  said  in  reply  that  the  author  of  Acts  has  little 
interest  in  organization  for  its  own  sake,  and  that  the 
gifts  from  Antioch  would  naturally  be  sent  to  the  elders, 
even  though  there  were  deacons  to  distribute  them. 
Neither  can  the  silence  of  the  Epistle  of  James  on  the 
subject  of  deacons  be  pressed  as  an  argument  either  way. 
At  the  same  time  the  appointment  of  "  the  seven  "  was 
an  arrangement  to  meet  a  specific  need  arising  from  a 
particular  situation.  There  is  nothing  to  show  that 
the  apostles  were  at  the  time  conscious  that  they  were 
establishing  a  permanent  office.  It  remained  for  the 
progress  of  events  to  perpetuate  or  modify  the  new  ar- 
rangement. None  the  less  does  the  event  exhibit  the 
principle  of  self-organization,  under  the  direction  of  the 
apostles,  inherent  in  the  community,  and  containing 
the  power  by  which  the  disciples  were  destined  event- 
ually to  separate  themselves  from  the  Jewish  church. 

44.  Meanwhile  the  apostles  had  been  constantly 
occupied  in  giving  instruction  to  the  disciples  (Acts 
ii.  42;  vi.  2,  4)  and  in  preaching  to  the  populace  (iii.. 
12-26  ;  iv.  2,  20  ;  v.  28,  42).  We  can  hardly  be  wrong 
in  supposing  that  the  former  consisted  mainly  in  the 
recital  of  the  deeds  and  teaching  of  Jesus  as  well  as  in 
pointing  out  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy  in  him.  Thus 
the  beginninffs  were  made  of  that  stream  of  evangelic 


EARLY  APOSTOLIC  TEACPIING  43 

narrative  which  ultimately  was  embodied  in  our  synop- 
tic gospels.  The  story  would  naturally  be  repeated 
again  and  again.  Perhaps  portions  of  it  were  already 
reduced  to  writing.  We  may  infer  from  the  contents 
of  the  synoptics  that  the  apostles  recited  especially  the 
events  of  the  Lord's  ministry  in  Galilee,  in  which  he 
had  trained  them  in  his  doctrines,  and  the  thrilling 
story  of  the  last  week  of  his  life.  This,  however,  was 
not  done  in  the  interest  of  biography,  but  to  guide  the 
converts  into  those  religious  ideas  in  which  the  apostles 
had  themselves  been  instructed  by  the  Master,  and  to 
fix  their  faith  and  love  on  his  person  and  on  his  work 
in  their  behalf. 

45.  To  obtain  an  idea  of  the  forms  in  which  the 
truth  as  yet  lay  in  the  apostles'  minds,  we  are  dependent 
on  the  speeches  of  Peter  recorded  in  the  Acts.  These 
indeed  must  be  used  for  this  purpose  with  caution.  It 
would  be  unfair  to  suppose  that  they  express  all  that 
the  apostles  believed  or  taught.  Being  public  addresses 
to  unbelievers,  they  only  contain  such  truths  as  might 
induce  belief.  Yet  the  very  simplicity  of  their  state- 
ments assures  us  of  their  genuineness,  and  enables  us 
partly  to  understand  the  progress  of  theological  thought. 
They  certainly  show  that  from  the  beginning  Chris- 
tianity embodied  thought  as  well  as  zeal.  It  gave  a 
rational  account  of  itself.  It  based  itself  on  the  known 
facts  of  Jesus'  life  and  teaching,  and  began  to  interpret 
these  by  the  aid  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  spiritual 
illumination  which  since  Pentecost  had  been  granted 
to  the  apostles  and  in  some  measure  to  all.  It 
assumed,  of  course,  Hebrew  monotheism  and  the  au- 
thority of  the  Old  Testament.  The  new  faith  arose 
out  of  the  soil  of  the  Hebrew  religion.     All  its  presup- 


44  RISE   OF   CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

positions  were  those  of  Moses  and  the  prophets.  To 
them  the  apostles  constantly  appealed  and  to  no  others. 
But  the  facts  of  Jesus'  life  and  teaching  threw  a  new 
light  on  the  older  revelation,  even  as  the  latter  did  on 
the  former ;  and  out  of  the  adjustment  of  the  two, 
under  the  Spirit's  guidance,  Christian  theology  began. 

46.  Yet  the  statement  of  the  new  faith  advanced 
slowly  from  the  nature  of  the  situation.  The  funda- 
mental truth  was  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah.  His 
crucifixion  is  not  further  explained  by  Peter  than  that 
it  had  been  in  accordance  with  God's  purpose  (ii.  23) 
and  had  been  predicted  by  the  prophets  (iii.  18).  His 
resurrection  and  exaltation  to  the  right  hand  of  God 
proved  that  by  his  work  on  earth  he  had  secured  the 
right  to  grant  to  all  believers  remission  of  sins  (ii.  38 ; 
iii.  19)  and  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  which  was  the  seal  of 
their  acceptance  and  the  promised  sign  of  the  Messianic 
salvation  (ii.  16-18,  33 ;  iii.  19 ;  v.  32).  Jesus  him- 
self was  called  the  "  Servant "  of  God  (iii.  13  ;  iv.  27 ; 
comp.  Is.  Iii.  13,  etc.),  the  Holy  One  and  the  Just 
(iii.  14).  By  his  exaltation  he  had  become  Lord  of 
all  (iii.  36),  and  the  giver,  as  he  was  the  possessor,  of 
spiritual  life  (iii.  15  ;  v.  31).  In  short,  he  was  the 
Saviour  (iv,  12  ;  v.  31).  He  would  remain  in  heaven, 
clothed  with  authority,  until  the  spiritual  restoration 
of  Israel  be  accomplished  (iii.  21),  when  he  will  return 
in  glory  (iii.  20)  and  usher  in  the  judgment  (ii.  19, 
20 ;  iii.  23 ;  x.  42).  Meanwhile  the  call  to  salvation 
was  addressed  first  to  Israel  (iii.  25,  26),  though  who- 
soever (ii.  21),  even  of  those  afar  off  (ii.  39),  should 
call  upon  his  name  would  be  saved. 

47.  The  apostle's  teaching,  meagre  as  this  rcjjort  of 
it  is,  is  notable  both  for  its  omissions  and  its  contents. 


THE   FAITH   IN  JESUS  45 

It  evinces  no  effort  to  define  the  nature  of  Christ  nor 
to  adjust  his  dignity  to  that  of  Jehovah;  nor  is  there 
any  reference  to  his  pre-existence.  No  explanation  of 
his  death  is  given  beyond  the  declaration  that  God  had 
appointed  and  predicted  it.  The  work  of  the  Spirit 
likewise  is  not  presented  in  its  regenerating  aspect,  but 
as  it  appears  in  the  subsequent  experience  of  the  be- 
liever. Moreover,  faith  in  Jesus  and  enjoyment  of  life 
from  him  lay  side  by  side  with  the  observance  of  the 
Mosaic  ritual,  without  the  latter,  so  far  as  appears, 
being  used  to  interpret  the  work  of  the  Christ.  Yet, 
as  has  been  said,  much  more  must  have  been  believed 
than  these  discourses  disclose ;  for,  on  the  other 
hand,  Jesus  is  represented  as  possessing  in  his  exalta- 
tion divine  prerogatives.  He  can  grant  remission  of 
sin  and  the  gift  of  the  Spirit.  To  him  prayer  was 
made  (i.  24),  and  he  will  be  the  Judge  of  all.  His 
work  on  earth  was  one  of  obedience  (iii.  14 ;  iv.  27) 
and  revelation  (iii.  23),  and  his  exaltation  was  the 
reward  which  he  merited  (ii.  33  ;  iii.'  13).  The  Chris- 
tian life  is  represented  as  a  purely  religious  one,  and 
Christ  is  the  object  on  which  saving  faith  rests  in  the 
same  way  as  upon  God  (comp.  ii.  21  and  iv.  12). 
Belief  in  the  pre-existence  of  Jesus  is  probably  to  be 
assumed  both  because  Jesus  had  so  habitually  repre- 
sented himself  as  having  come  from  heaven,  that  the 
disciples,  especially  with  their  now  exalted  view  of 
him,  could  hardly  have  forgotten  his  words,  and  be- 
cause belief  in  Messiah's  pre-existence  was  by  no 
means  unfamiliar  to  the  Jews  (see  The  Book  of  Enochs 
xlvi.  1,  2;  xlviii.  3,  6;  Ixii.  6,  7,  etc.  Fourth  Esdras^ 
xii.  32.     So  John  the  Baptist,  John  i.  30). 

48.     In  Peter's  speeches  we  may  thus  see  Christian 


46  RISE   OF   CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

thought  beginning  to  express  itself  along  those  lines 
which  the  situation  made  necessary.  The  issues  and 
the  motives  were  very  practical.  The  popular  ideas 
of  Messiah  were  so  various  and  some  of  them  so  ex- 
alted that  no  need  was  felt  of  adjusting  in  popular  dis- 
course the  glory  of  Jesus  with  belief  in  monotheism. 
The  fulfilment  of  prophecy  was  the  most  natural  and 
forcible  argument  to  employ,  and  seemed  to  many  to 
provide  of  itself  a  sufficient  explanation  of  what  had 
happened  to  him.  The  new  movement  was  not  pri- 
marily theological.  Yet  neither  was  it  without  definite 
beliefs.  These,  however,  attained  expression  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  progress  of  the  history.  The  truths 
proclaimed  by  Peter  were,  as  far  as  they  went,  an 
interpretation  of  Jesus'  life  and  personality.  They 
were  sufficient  for  the  time,  and  evidence  the  power  of 
apostolic  Christianity  to  give  a  rational  statement  of 
its  faith. 


EXTERNAL  HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUECH  AFTER 
PENTECOST 

49.  The  external  growth  of  the  new  community  was 
certainly  rapid.  The  believers,  including  doubtless 
those  converted  at  Pentecost,  soon  numbered  about 
five  thousand  (Acts  iv.  4).  It  is  safe  to  say,  from 
various  expressions  used  in  Acts  (v.  14 ;  vi.  7),  that  in 
the  three  or  four  years  followhig  Pentecost  the  number 
converted  on  that  day  was  trebled.  Perhaps  even  a 
larger  estimate  may  be  allowed.  On  the  other  hand, 
in  a  large  city  like  Jerusalem  the  disciples  formed  a 
small  fraction  of  the  population.  Their  activity,  how- 
ever, made  their  progress  very  impressive.  Nor  need 
we  suppose  that  believers  were  confined  to  Jerusalem. 
The  movement  naturally  spread  into  Judea  and  Galilee, 
and  it  is  probable  that  it  penetrated  farther.  A  little 
latter  we  hear  of  disciples  in  Damascus  (Acts  ix.  2, 
10)  and  other  foreign  cities  (xxvi.  11),  and  this  diffu- 
sion of  the  faith  must  have  begun  early.  It  would 
appear  that  at  least  the  Jews  in  Syria  were  affected, 
and  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  new  gospel  was  car- 
ried still  more  widely  throughout  "the  dispersion"  by 
visitors  to  the  feasts  and  by  other  Jewish  travellers. 

50.  But,  as  already  explained,  the  loyalty  of  the 
disciples  to  the  national  worship  prevented  inter- 
ference by  the  Jewish  authorities,  while,  of  course, 
there  was  nothing  in  their  practices  to  call  for  inter- 


48  RISE   OF   CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

ference  by  the  Romans.  It  was  too  common  for  sects 
and  parties  to  rise  among  the  excited  population  of 
Palestine  for  this  peaceful  one  to  attract  the  attention 
of  the  government  (comp.  Acts  v.  36,  37 ;  Jos.  Antiq. 
xvii.  10).  The  first  opposition  emanated  from  the 
Sadducees.  To  that  party  most  of  the  nobility  be- 
longed, and  especially  the  branches  of  the  high-priestly 
family  (Acts  iv.  6  ;  Schilrer,  HJP.  II.  2.  p.  29,  etc.). 
The  new  sect  offended  them  for  several  reasons. 
The  chief  priests  had  been  active  in  securing  the 
crucifixion  of  Jesus.  They  also  opposed  belief  in  a 
future  life,  and  especially  ridiculed  belief  in  a  resur- 
rection (Mark  xii.  18-27,  etc.).  Still  further,  they  were 
engrossed  in  the  maintenance  of  their  political  power, 
so  that  such  religious  enthusiasm  as  that  of  the  dis- 
ciples was  specially  obnoxious  to  them.  Yet  even 
the  opposition  of  the  Sadducees  arose  quite  incident- 
ally. The  healing  of  the  lame  man  by  Peter  at  the 
gate  of  the  temple  called  "  Beautiful  "  (Acts  iii.  1,  2  ; 
Jos,  Antiq.  xv.  11.  5  ;  B.  J.  v.  5.  3)  led  to  a  great 
concourse  of  people  in  Solomon's  porch,  —  a  portico 
on  the  east  side  of  the  temple  area  (Jos.  Antiq.  xx. 
9.  7),  —  where  Peter  addressed  them.  The  temple 
guard,  at  the  command  of  the  Sadducees,  arrested 
Peter  and  John,  probably  on  the  charge  of  fomenting 
tumult.  The  next  day  the  Sanhedrim  was  convoked. 
Peter  made  a  brave  address,  proclaiming  to  them  Jesus 
as  the  Christ  and  only  Saviour,  and  reproaching  them 
for  his  crucifixion  (Acts  iv.  8-12).  The  presence  of  the 
man  who  had  been  healed,  the  boldness  of  the  apostles, 
whom  the  rulers  recognized  as  former  companions  of 
Jesus,  and  the  well-known  sympathy  of  the  people, 
prevented  any  further   consequence  than  a  command 


ARREST  OF  THE   APOSTLES  49 

to  discontinue  their  teaching.  But  while  the  arrest 
was  unpremeditated  and  the  issue  favorable,  the 
event  boded  ill  for  the  future.  The  disciples  realized 
this  (Acts  iv.  23-30),  and  prepared  for  the  conflict 
which  their  Lord  had  faced  and  which  evidently  lay 
before  them. 

51.  So,  in  time,  more  active  measures  were  taken 
by  the  high-priestly  party  to  put  down  the  growing 
sect.  By  their  orders  all  the  apostles  were  arrested 
and  imprisoned  (Acts  v.  17,  18).  But  when,  on  the 
next  day,  the  Sanhedrim  assembled,  the  prisoners  were 
not  to  be  found.  During  the  night  an  angel  had 
liberated  them,  and  by  his  instructions  they  had  boldly 
resumed  in  the  morning  their  preaching  in  the  temple. 
This  was  plainly  inviting  conflict.  When  news  of  it 
was  taken  to  the  council,  officers  were  sent  to  bring 
the  apostles  without  violence  ;  for  the  rulers,  doubtless 
attributing  the  escape  of  the  prisoners  to  treachery, 
were  awed  by  the  popularity  and  fearlessness  of  the 
Galileans.  Their  plans  were  thus  unsettled.  They 
upbraided  tlie  apostles  for  disobedience  and  sedition 
(v.  28).  (When  the  latter  again  proclaimed  their  faith, 
the  rage  of  the  rulers  was  -unbounded,  and  they  con- 
sulted how  they  might  put  the  men  to  death.) 

52.  -.A  fatal  issue  was,  however,  prevented  by  the 
speech  of  Gamaliel.  He  was  the  leading  Pharisee  and 
Raltbi  of  his  day,  and  is  said  by  some  to  have  been  the 
grandson  of  the  still  more  famous  Hillel  (but  com  p. 
ScUlrer,  HJP.  II.  2.  p.  363).  He  exerted  iniiuence 
also,  not  only  because  of  his  personal  reputation, 
but  because  he  represented  the  numerous  and  pop- 
ular Pharisaic  party.  As  such,  he  was  disposed  to 
look   with   indulgence    on    men    who   were,  strict  ob- 

4 


50  RISE   OF   CHRISTIANITY  IN  JERUSALEM 

servers  of  the  law,  preached  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  and  represented  a  religious,  rather  than  a  politi- 
cal, movement.  He  had,  of  course,  no  real  sympathy 
with  the  apostles'  views,  and  probably  did  not  even 
understand  them.  But  he  was  opposed  to  religious 
persecution.  He  seems  to  have  felt  also  that  they  were 
living  in  unusual  times,  and  that  an  outburst  of  relig- 
ious zeal,  with  whatever  errors  it  might  be  combined, 
ought  not  to  be  summarily  condemned.  God  might  be 
back  of  it.  He  pointed  out  two  former  movements, 
those  of  Theudas  ^  and  Judas  the  Galilean,  which  had 
been  suppressed  by  Roman  arms.  So  would  this  one 
be,  if  it  became  dangerous.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
was  purely  religious,  why  should  the  Sanhedrim  perse- 
cute it  ?  It  should  be  allowed  to  run  its  course,  and 
reveal  in  due  time  its  worth  or  weakness. 

53.  The  speech  of  Gamaliel  was  a  shrewd  and  timely 
argument.  It  was  the  speech  of  a  politician  and  a  phi- 
losopher. It  held  the  Sadducees  in  check ;  it  pleased 
the  people ;  it  showed  some  breadth  of  view ;  while  it 
committed  the  speaker  to  nothing,  and  indicates  no 
real  interest  on  his  part  in  the  merits  of  the  contro- 
versy. It  is  not  strange  that  it  determined  the  action 
of  the  Sanhedrim.  To  placate  the  Sadducees,  the 
apostles  were  beaten    and   commanded   not  to  teach. 

1  It  is  unDecessary  to  identify  the  Theudas  mentioned  by  Gamaliel, 
in  Luke's  report  of  his  speech,  with  the  one  mentioned  by  Josephus 
(Antiq.  xx.  5.  1),  who  appeared  some  years  later.  The  descriptions  of 
the  number  of  adherents  of  the  two  men,  as  given  by  Gamaliel  and 
Josephus,  do  not  agree ;  it  is  unlikely  that  the  writer  of  Luke  iii.  1,  2, 
who  also  relates  with  accuracy  the  complicated  political  arrangements 
of  the  cities  which  Paul  visited,  would  have  made  such  a  bluuder  as  this 
identification  supposes  ;  and  the  accouut  of  .Josephus  (Antiq.  xviii.  10) 
shows  that  there  were  mauy  seditious  pri(n'  to  tliat  of  Judas  the 
Galilean. 


ARREST  OF  STEPHEN  51 

But  they  were  set  at  liberty,  and  the  spread  of  the 
movement  proceeded  with  unabated  vigor. 

54.  The  whole  situation,  however,  was  suddenly 
changed  by  an  event  which  roused  the  auger  of  the 
Pharisees  even  more  than  of  the  Sadducees,  and  thus 
brought  upon  the  disciples  the  hostility  of  the  whole 
Sanhedrim.  Stephen,  one  of  "  the  seven,"  rivalled  the 
apostles  in  both  deed  and  word  (Acts  vi.  8).  Himself 
evidently  a  Hellenist,  he  labored  among  the  Greek- 
speaking  Jews  in  Jerusalem.  These  were  often,  just 
because  they  had  returned  to  the  sacred  city,  especially 
zealous  for  the  honor  of  the  Mosaic  law ;  and  they,  for 
the  first  time,  brought  against  Stephen  the  charge  of 
disloyalty  to  Judaism.  Those  most  active  against  him 
belonged  to  the  synagogue  of  "  the  Libertines  [Frccd- 
men]  and  the  Cyrenians  and  the  Alexandrians,"  with 
whom  others  from  Cilicia  and  Asia  joined  (Acts  vi.  9). 
They  produced  witnesses  who  accused  him  of  blas- 
phemy against  Moses  and  God.  This  was  a  wholly 
new  charge  against  a  disciple.  It  moved  the  Phari- 
sees and  affected  the  disposition  of  the  people.  Stephen 
was  arraigned  before  the  council,  and  his  defence  was 
so  unconciliatory  that  he  was  immediately  stoned  to 
death. 

55.  We  are  not  told  what  Stephen  had  said  in  the 
synagogue,  but  his  defence  before  the  council  (Acts  vii.) 
furnishes  some  explanation  of  the  charge  made  against 
him.  It  consisted  of  a  recital  of  Hebrew  history,  from 
the  call  of  Abraham  to  Solomon's  dedication  of  the 
temple.  It  emphasized  God's  special  guidance  of  Abra- 
ham and  his  descendants  with  a  view  to  the  fulfilment 
of  the  original  promise  ;  then,  the  repeated  resistance 
of  the  Hebrews   to    their   divinely   sent  leaders,   and 


52  RISE   OF  CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

especially  to  Moses ;  finally,  the  typical  character,  ac- 
cording to  the  Old  Testament  itself,  of  both  tabernacle 
and  temple.  Then  the  speaker  closed  with  a  terrible 
denunciation  of  the  rulers  before  him,  as  the  children 
of  those  who  had  slain  the  prophets,  as  murderers  of 
Messiah,  and  as  violators  of  the  law  of  God.  As  his 
doom  was  certain,  he  broke  out  into  an  ecstatic  descrip- 
tion of  "  the  Son  of  man  standing  at  the  right  hand  of 
God."     Christianity  had  found  its  first  martyr. 

66.  The  significance  of  Stephen's  address  is  very 
great.  His  ideas  went  much  beyond  those  expressed 
by  Peter,  His  point  of  view  was  historical  rather  than 
prophetic.  It  presented  Christianity  as  the  intended 
goal  of  the  whole  history  of  the  Hebrews.  Just  be- 
cause Stephen  contemplated  the  history  rather  than  the 
prophecies  of  Israel,  he  inferred  that  in  the  present,  as 
had  been  the  case  in  the  past,  God's  purpose  would  be 
opposed  by  the  existing  church  and  state.  So  had  it 
ever  been,  and  so  would  it  continue  to  be.  Judaism,  in 
fact,  had  ever  belittled  its  own  system  and  lost  the  sub- 
stance in  attachment  to  the  form.  It  hated  the  ideal 
of  whose  image  it  was  proud.  It  substituted  the  mate- 
rial for  the  spiritual,  and  regarded  as  its  own  peculiar 
possession  what  had  been  given  as  a  trust  for  the  world 
(vii.  44-50). 

57.  It  is  interesting  to  inquire  how  Stephen  was  led 
to  these  views.  N"o  doubt  further  study  of  the  Old 
Testament  had  much  to  do  with  them.  Stephen  be- 
trays acquaintance  with  Jewish  traditions  (Acts  vii,  14, 
16,  22,  23,  30)  as  well  as  with  the  Scriptures ;  but  the 
biblical  history  had  evidently  been  illuminated  by  the 
Messianic  idea,  as  the  prophecies  had  been  to  Petez) 
It  would  seem,  also,  that  certain  of  the  teachings  of 


STEPHEN'S   AD1)RESS  53 

Jesus  had  made  a  deep  impression  on  his  mind.  Not 
only  did  he  describe  Jesus  by  the  term  "  Son  of  man," 
which  was  the  Lord's  favorite  description  of  himself, 
but  Jesus  had  denounced  the  rulers  and  current  Ju- 
daism in  quite  the  same  way  that  Stephen  did  {e.g. 
Matt.  xxi.  33-41 ;  xxiii.  34-36).  Thus  Christ's  teaching- 
was  w^orking  among  the  disciples  toward  a  rupture  with 
Judaism  as  well  as  toward  a  spiritual  interpretation  of 
the  Mosaic  law  ;  and  this  was  doubtless  accentuated,  as 
had  been  the  case  also  with  Jesus,  by  the  rise  of  oppo- 
sition from  the  authorities. 

58.  Stephen's  address  thus  indicates  a  growing  dis- 
content of  the  new  faith  with  its  primitive  environment. 
It  was  realizing  its  self-sufficiency.  (It  was  beginning 
to  feel  that  it  must  absorb  Judaism  or  break  with  it; 
that  it  was  the  true  goal  of  Hebrew  history.  Yet  this 
took  place  by  its  own  development,  through  the  appro- 
priation of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  the  more  pro- 
found interpretation  of  the  older  revelation.  The 
expansion  was  that  of  its  own  original  idea.  Faith  in 
Jesus  had  been  proclaimed  from  the  commencement  as 
the  only  condition  of  salvation.  Stephen  was  the  first 
to  intimate  that  this  involved  more  than  a  revived  Jew- 
ish religion.  It  might  involve  the  condemnation  of 
Judaism  and  the  substitution  of  forms  of  service  that 
would  be  commensurate  wath  the  universal  worship  of 
Christ.  It  is  not  impossible  that  he  took  ground  where 
many  of  the  disciples  could  not  as  yet  follow  him.  But 
he  embodied  the  irresistible  logic  of  the  truth,  and  led 
the  church  into  the  attainment  of  her  real  destiny. 

59.  At  the  same  time  Stephen  did  not  break  with 
the  established  worship.  He  was  charged,  indeed,  with 
saying,  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth  shall  destroy  this  place  and 


54  RISE   OF   CHRISTIANITY   IN  JERUSALEM 

shall  change  the  customs  which  Moses  delivered  us.v 
(vi.  14).  This  was  false  testimony  (vi.  13) ;  but  it 
must  have  had  some  basis,  and  it  may  be  plausibly 
conjectured  that  he  had  been  repeating  the  predictions 
of  Jesus  concerning  the  destruction  of  impenitent  Je- 
rusalem, or  had  been  interpreting,  like  Jesus,  the  spirit- 
ual content  of  the  law.  There  is  nothing,  however,  to 
show  that  he  declared,  as  Paul  afterward  did,  that  the 
work  of  Christ  had  relieved  the  believer  from  obligation 
to  Mosaism  ;  and,  though  he  taught  (vii.  44-50)  that 
tabernacle  and  temple  were  representative  of  a  higher 
sanctuary,  he  did  not  disparage  the  national  worship 
itself.  He  only  marks  the  first  appearance  of  ideas 
which  contained  the  principle  of  the  future  expansion 
of  Christianity,  These  limitations  of  his  teaching  are 
a  remarkable  testimony  to  the  accuracy  of  the  report 
of  his  address. 

60.  The  death  of  Stephen  was  apparently  an  act  of 
violence.  Some  forms  of  law  were  observed  in  its  ex- 
ecution (vii.  58),  but  there  is  nothing  said  of  a  formal 
decision.  At  any  rate  the  decision  was  made  quickly 
and  tumultuously  and  executed  instantly.  This  ex- 
plains its  occurrence,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
Romans  had  taken  from  the  Jews  the  right  of  capital 
punishment  (John  xviii.  31).  Some  have  inferred  that 
at  this  time  there  was  an  interruption  of  Roman  rule, 
and  would  date  the  event  after  the  recall  of  Pilate 
(a.  d.  36).  But  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  the 
strictness  of  Roman  rule  ceased  when  Vitellius,  the 
Governor  of  Syria,  sent  Pilate  to  Rome  to  answer 
the  complaints  of  the  Samaritans  against  him.  The 
government  of  Judea  was  given  temporarily  into  the 
charge  of  a  certain  Marcellus  (^los.  Antiq.  xviii.  4.  2). 


PERSECUTION  OF  THE  DISCIPLES  55 

The  martyrdom  of  Stephen  was  rather  an  outburst 
of  passion  which  was  liable  to  happen  in  spite  of  any 
law. 

61.  At  the  same  time  the  Sanhedrim,  now  thoroughly 
aroused  against  the  disciples,  determined  to  suppress 
peremptorily  the  new  sect.  Roman  rule  permitted  the 
chief  court  to  exercise  extensive  civil  functions,  and 
especially  to  regulate  and,  within  limits,  enforce  the 
religious  law  of  the  nation  (comp.  Schilrer,  HJP. 
II.  1.  p.  184).  Accordingly  a  general  proscription  of 
the  offensive  sect  was  issued.  Men  and  women  were 
imprisoned  (Acts  viii.  3  ;  xxii.  4  ;  xxvi.  10,  11).  The 
most  active  persecutor  was  the  young  Saul  of  Tarsus,  at 
whose  feet  the  witnesses  against  Stephen  at  his  martyr- 
dom had  laid  their  clothes.  In  consequence,  the  great 
body  of  disciples  fled  from  the  city.  Most  of  them 
scattered  through  Judea  and  Samaria ;  but  others,  as 
we  shall  see,  went  much  farther.  The  apostles,  how- 
ever, remained  in  Jerusalem.  They  doubtless  hid  until 
the  storm  was  over ;  and  their  remaining  indicates  that 
Jerusalem  was  still  regarded  as  the  seat  and  head  of 
the  church.  But  the  first  period  of  apostolic  Chris- 
tianity had  closed.  The  hope  of  the  speedy  conversion 
of  the  nation  was  extinguished.  The  consciousness  of 
independence  had  been  awakened  in  the  disciples.  It 
was  evident  that  the  faith  would  conquer  only  through 
conflict.  These  events,  however,  turned  out  to  be  the 
means  by  which  Christianity  discovered  its  intended 
destiny  and  attained  its  universal  and  complete  message 
to  mankind. 


PART  II 
EARLY  EXPANSION   OF  CHRISTIANITY 


HISTORICAL   SOUECES 

62.  For  the  history  of  the  earliest  expansion  of 
Christianity  we  are  again  mainly  dependent  on  Acts. 
The  principal  narrative  is  found  in  chapter  viii.  4  to 
xiv._28.  In  xxii.  1-21  and  xxvi.  1-^23  we  have  reports 
of  Paul's  addresses  in  which  he  recounted  his  early  life 
and  conversion.  Further  light  on  the  same  events  is 
furnished  by  the  apostle  in  Galatiaiis  i.  13-24^  and  al- 
lusions to  his  conversion  occur  in  First  Corinthians,  ix. 
1  and  XV.  8.  Second  Corinthians  (xi.  24  to  xii.  9)  also 
contains  references  to  incidents  some  of  which  belong 
in  this  period  ;  and  in  Second  Timothy  iii.  11  he  alludes 
to  occurrences  during  the  journey  through  Phrygia  and 
Lycaonia.  In  Acts,  viii.  4  to  xii.  25  appear  to  have 
formed  the  second  great  division  of  the  book.  It  de- 
scribes the  transition  from  Jewish  to  Gentile  Christian- 
ity. Here  again  Luke  shows  his  intelligent  grasp  on 
the  significance  of  the  movement  of  events.  We  have 
five  sections,  exhibiting  (1)  the  earliest  expansion 
under  Philip  (viii.  4-40)  ;  (2)  the  conversion  and  early 
work  of  Paul,  whereby  the  man  was  provided  for  the 
future  diffusion  of  the  faith  (ix.  1-30)  ;  (3)  the  work 
of  Peter  in  Syria  which  ended  in  the  conversion  of 
Cornelius  and  the  demonstration  to  the  church  that 
God  would  accept  uncircumcised  believers  (ix.  31  to 


60  EARLY   EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

xi.  18) ;  (4)  the  rise  of  Gentile  Christianity  in  Antioch, 
whereby  the  new  centre  for  the  expanding  religion  was 
provided  (xi.  19-30) ;  (5)  the  Herodian  persecution, 
whereby  the  Jewish  state  registered  its  repudiation  of 
the  gospel  (xii.). 

63.  Extra  biblical  literature  furnishes  no  information 
concerning  Christianity  during  this  time.  Josephus, 
however  (Antiq.  xix.  4  to  8),  gives  an  account  of  the 
life  and  death  of  Herod  Agrippa  I.  which  should  be  com- 
pared with  Acts  xii.  For  the  history  and  condition  of 
the  Syrian  towns  the  reader  should  consult  Schlirer's 
"  History  of  the  Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of  Jesus 
Christ"  (Part  II.  Vol.  I.  ch.  ii.  and  iii.),  as  well  as 
with  regard  to  the  Nabatteans  who  ruled  Damascus  at 
the  time  of  Paul's  early  ministry  in  tliat  city  (Part  I. 
Vol.  II.  Append.  II.).  For  the  best  information  con- 
cerning the  route  of  Paul's  first  missionary  journey 
and  the  location  of  the  places  visited,  see  Ramsay's 
"  Church  in  the  Roman  Empire  "  (ch.  ii.  and  iii.)  and 
"St.  Paul  the  Traveller"  (ch.  iv.  and  v.). 


II 

THE  DISPERSION 

64.  The  persecution  which  followed  Stephen's  death 
was  the  means  of  spreading  the  new  faith,  for  "  they 
that  were  scattered  abroad  went  everywhere  preach- 
ing the  word  "  (Acts  viii.  4).  There  were  already,  no 
doubt,  disciples  outside  of  Jerusalem  (sect.  49),  but  the 
diffusion  now  became  aggressive  and  widespread.  It 
permeated  especially  Judea  and  Samaria  (Acts  viii.  1), 
but  did  not  stop  there.  Both  those  of  the  disciples 
who  settled  in  new  homes  and  those  who  continued 
their  wanderings  regarded  themselves  as  missionaries 
of  the  Messiah. 

Go.  Thus  Philip,  one  of  "  the  seven,"  acting  in  the 
spirit  of  Stephen,  repaired  to  the  city  of  Samaria  (Acts 
viii.  5,  R.  v.),  or,  as  Herod  the  Great  had  called  it, 
Sebaste,  which  contained  a  numerous  pagan  as  well  as 
Samaritan  population.  This  of  itself  indicated  libera- 
tion from  Jewish  prejudice  (John  iv.  9).  Yet  the 
Samaritans  observed  the  law,  practised  circumcision, 
and  expected  the  Messiah.  They  offered,  therefore,  the 
most  natural  field  outside  of  Judea  and  Galilee.  We 
may  also  see  in  Philip's  conduct  another  effect  of  the 
example  and  teaching  of  Jesus  (Jjuke  ix.  52-56  ;  x.  33  ; 
xvii.  11-19  ;  John  iv.  ;  Acts  i.  8).  The  belief  of  many 
of  the  Samaritans  in  Philip's  message  raised  no  ques- 


62  EARLY  EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY 

tion  concerning  the  observance  of  the  law,  while  his 
mission  to  them  indicated  the  broadening  spirit  of  love 
and  the  clearer  comprehension  of  Christ's  purposes 
which  were  making  themselves  felt.  Wonder  and 
joy  were  awakened  in  Jerusalem  by  the  report  that 
"  Samaria  had  received  the  word  of  God,"  and  from 
the  capital  the  faith  spread  ultimately  into  many 
adjacent  villages,  j 

Q^.  In  Samaria,  however,  it  was  for  the  first  time 
confronted  with  a  form  of  the  superstition  and  religious 
imposture  of  which  the  ancient  world,  especially  the 
Orient,  was  full,  and  against  which  the  new  religion 
was  destined  often  to  contend.  The  story  of  Simon 
the  Mage,  whose  reputation  as  a  magician  and  teacher 
was  great  in  Samaria,  and  who,  astonished  at  Philip's 
miracles,  professed  to  believe,  shows  that  Christianity 
had  .indeed  emerged  from  its  original  home  and  was 
beginning  to  compete  with  the  forces  which  dominated 
the  complex  and  corrupt  pagan  world.  In  that  eclectic 
age  religious  impostors  abounded,  and  often  strangely 
united  blatant  trickery  with  the  language  of  philosophy. 
Of  this  class  none  became  more  famous  than  Simon. 
Justin  Martyr,  himself  a  Samaritan,  relates  that  he 
was  a  native  of  Gitton,  and  reports,  though  with  some 
confusion  of  statement,  that  he  visited  Rome  under 
Claudius  and  was  honored  as  a  god.  One  of  the  earliest 
Gnostic  sects  was  called  after  him,  and  in  later  legends 
he  figures  as  the  arch  enemy  of  Peter.  There  is  no 
reason  to  doubt  his  historical  character,  nor  is  it  im- 
probable that  he  appropriated  some  Christian  ideas  to 
augment  his  influence,  and  thus  became,  as  tradition 
states,  the  prototype  of  heresy.  We  learn  from  Acts 
that  he  was  regarded  by  the  Samaritans  as  an  incarna- 


PETER  AND   JOHN  IN   SAMARIA  63 

tion  of  the  divine  power.  But  tlie  new  faith  was  not 
to  be  defiled  by  such  an  unworthy  alliance.  When 
Peter  and  John  arrived  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  with  his 
gifts  and  powers,  came  on  the  converts  at  the  imposi- 
tion of  the  apostles'  hands,  Simon  revealed  his  true 
character  by  offering  money,  if  like  power  to  impart 
the  Spirit  were  given  to  Iiim.  The  offer  was  indig- 
nantly refused  ;  and  the  incident  merely  illustrates  the 
triumph  of  the  new  faith  over  the  subtlety  of  supersti- 
tion, and  its  clear  ethical  consciousness  amid  the 
temptations  of  the  larger  world  into  which  it  was 
entering. 

67.  It  is  more  important  to  observe  that  when  the 
news  from  Samaria  reached  Jerusalem,  Peter  and  John 
were  sent  to  complete  the  work  which  Philip  had  begun. 
This  evidently  implies  the  wish  to  preserve  the  unity 
of  all  believers  under  apostolic  direction.  Moreover, 
the  Lord  had  indicated  his  will  that  the  new  converts 
should  be  led  to  realize  the  authority  of  the  original 
apostles  by  withholding  the  outward  manifestations 
of  the  Spirit ;  for  only  when  the  hands  of  Peter  and 
John  were  laid  on  them  did  they  "receive  the  Holy 
Spirit "  (Acts  viii.  15).  This'  was  not  always  a  condi- 
tion of  the  manifestation  of  the  Spirit's  power.  Not 
only  did  he  at  Pentecost  come  directly  upon  all  the 
disciples,  but  he  was  given  to  Saul  of  Tarsus  through 
the  instrumentality  of  Ananias  (Acts  ix.  17),  and  to 
Cornelius  without  any  instrumentality  at  all  (Acts  x. 
44);  nor  is  it  probable  that  in  Galatia  (Gal.  iii.  5)  and 
Corinth  (T.  Cor.  xii.  28)  his  gifts  were  dependent  on 
apostolic  touch.  At  other  times,  however,  the  imposi- 
tion of  apostolic  hands  preceded  the  gift  of  the  Spirit 
(Acts  xix.  6 ;  II.  Tim.  i.  6)  ;  and  in  the  case  before  us 


64  EARLY   EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

the  importance  of  uniting  in  one  body  Samaritan  and 
Jewish  believers  amply  explains  to  those  who  believe 
in  the  Spirit's  guidance  of  the  history  the  event  as  it  is 
reported.  The  expansion  of  Christianity  was  thus  not 
merely  the  diffusion  of  the  faith,  but  also  the  extension 
of  the  community  which  had  been  organized  in  Jerusa- 
lem under  the  apostles. 

68.  Philip's  work,  however,  was  not  confined  to 
Samaria.  Luke  appends  the  account  of  the  conversion 
of  the  Ethiopian  steward  (Acts  viii.  26-39).  This  took 
place  in  southern  Judea,  on  the  road  to  the  old  and 
deserted  city  of  Gaza.  The  narrative  is  intended  to 
illustrate  the  varied  progress  of  the  faith.  The  steward 
was  apparently  a  proselyte,  although  according  to  the 
law  (Deut.  xxiii.  1)  he  could  not,  if  we  understand  the 
term  "  eunuch  "  in  its  strict  sense,  have  been  a  recog- 
nized member  of  the  congregation  of  Israel.  He  was, 
at  any  rate,  a  devout  worshipper  of  Jehovah.  He  was 
deeply  interested  also  in  the  Scriptures,  and  especially 
in  the  prophecies.  He  is  a  fine  example  of  the  way  in 
wliich  the  religion  of  Israel  had  touched  the  souls  of 
many  in  the  pagan  world  and  prepared  them  for  a 
further  message  from  God.  His  conversion  was  to 
Luke  very  properly  representative  of  the  widening 
destiny  of  the  gospel ;  and,  though  we  know  nothing 
of  an  Ethiopian  church  in  the  first  century,  the  incident 
was  suggestive  of  the  geographical  as  well  as  ethnic 
expansion  which  was  beginning.  Luke  particularly 
emphasizes  the  fact  that  Philip  acted  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Spirit.  It  was  in  truth  the  Spirit  who,  in 
co-operation  with  providence,  was  impelling  the  disciples 
to  spread  their  faith.  The  progress  was  not  accidental, 
but  divinely  intended  and  guided.     The  use  also  of  the 


DIFFUSION  OF  THE   FAITH   IN   SYRIA  05 

fifty -tin  I'd  chapter  of  Isaiah  to  introduce  the  steward  to 
a  knowledge  of  Jesus  illustrates  the  means  by  which 
the  unlikely  story  of  a  crucified  Messiah  was  made 
credible  and  intelligible  to  these  early  converts.  After 
this  incident  Philif)  seems  to  have  settled  in  Cassarea 
(Acts  viii.  40).  There,  much  later,  Luke  himself 
found  him  (xxi.  8),  and  may  have  received  from  the 
evangelist's  own  lii)s  these  facts  which  he  embodied 
in  his  history. 

69.  But  while  Luke's  narrative  follows  the  move- 
ments of  Philip,  it  seems  clear  that  Syria  was  the  prin- 
cipal region  in  which  the  faith  was  diffused.  Into  it 
many  of  the  refugees  must  have  fled.  Jews  resided  in 
large  numbers  in  the  towns  of  both  the  coast  and  the 
interior,  some  of  which  were  doubtless  the  "  foreign 
cities  "  (Acts  xxvi.  11,  R.  V.)  into  which  even  the  per- 
secution reached.  Certainly  Damascus  had  received  the 
gospel,  for  thither  the  arch  persecutor  turned  his  steps. 
In  most  of  these  cities  the  Jewish  colony  had  its  local 
council,  by  which  Jewish  criminals  could  be  delivered 
to  the  Jerusalem  Sanhedrim. ,  But  in  them  also  the 
refugees  for  the  most  part  would  be  safe  and  could 
extend  the  influence  of  their  faith.  Here,  therefore,  the 
largest  advance  was  made.  Not  long  after,  we  find 
Peter  visiting  the  disciples  in  Syria  (Acts  x.  32)  ;  and 
the  accounts  of  Eneas  at  Lydda  and  of  Dorcas  at  Joppa 
indicate  that  the  faith  had  been  well  established  in 
those  regions.  Finally  the  great  Syrian  metro])olis  of 
Antioch  was  occupied  by  a  party  of  Hellenistic  mis- 
sionaries who  had  previously  been  to  Phoenicia  and  even 
to  Cyprus  (Acts  xi.  19).  These  events  extended  over 
a  number  of  years ;  but  they  were  all  a  part  of  the 
expansion  which  followed  the  death  of  Stephen,  and 

5 


66  EARLY   EXPANSION   OF  CHRISTIANITY 

indicate  Syria  as  the  region  mainly  occupied.  At  tlie 
same  time  it  is  very  probable  that  the  movement 
reached  more  distant  territory.  It  is  difficult  to  believe 
that  Egypt,  Arabia,  and  Babylonia,  where  the  Jews  were 
in  close  touch  with  those  of  Judea,  did  not  hear  of  the 
new  faith.  We  have,  however,  no  information  on  that 
point.  . 

70.  It  should  be  remembered  that  this  early  expan- 
sion was  at  first  and  for  some  years  almost  wholly 
among  the  Jews.j  It  was  simply  the  spread  of  Jeru- 
salem-Christianity ;  and  Peter's  visit  to  the  disciples  of 
Syria  (Acts  ix.  32)  shows  tliat  the  latter  kept  in  touch 
with  the  mother  church  and  acknowledged  the  author- 
ity of  the  apostles.  The  diffusion  was  effected  mainly 
by  personal  intercourse,  or  else  by  preaching  in  the 
synagogues,  which  were  always  open  to  visiting 
Hebrews.  The  faith  itself  was  the  same  which  had 
been  preached  in  Jerusalem.  The  new  believers 
trusted  in  Jesus,  as  the  risen  and  glorified  Messiah,  for 
the  forgiveness  of  sins  ;  received  baptism  in  his  name  ; 
learned  his  spiritual  interpretation  of  the  law ;  studied 
afresh  his  fullilment  of  prophecy  ;  waited  for  his  return 
in  glory  ;  while  the  apostolic  reports  of  his  life  and 
teachings  were  circulated  from  lip  to  lip.  In  most 
instances  the  disciples  continued  to  worship  in  the 
synagogues  as  well  as  to  have  their  own  meetings. 
They  were  bound  to  one  another,  however,  by  the 
bonds  of  a  common  faith  and  peril ;  and  gradually  they 
formed  separate  synagogues  of  their  own  (Jas.  ii.  2 ; 
V.  14). '  But  the  expansion  of  the  new  faith  did  not  as 
yet  result  in  any  violent  rupture  with  the  older  Jewish 
organizations.  It  united  at  first,  and  in  most  localities 
for   many  years,  faith   in    Jesus  with   loyalty  to   the 


HEBRAIC   CHARACTER   OF   THE   EXPANSION         67 

Mosaic  ritual  and  law.  The  conversion  of  the  Sama- 
ritans and  of  the  Ethiopian  steward  did  not  form  any 
real  exception  to  this.  The  movement  as  yet  was 
strictly  a  Hebrew  one.  It  was,  so  far  as  the  evidence 
goes,  simply  the  extension  among  the  Jews  of  the  dis- 
persion of  the  new  faith  and  brotherhood  which  had 
been  formed  in  Jerusalem. 


Ill 

THE  CONVERSION   OF   PAUL 

71.  An  event  soon  occurred  which  was  destined 
to  be  of  supreme  importance  to  the  growing  faith. 
This  was  the  conversion  of  Saul  of  Tarsus.  At 
the  time  of  Stephen's  death  Saul  was  still  a  young 
man  (Acts  vii.  58).  His  native  city,  Tarsus  in 
Cilicia,  was  a  place  of  both  political  and  intellectual 
renown.  It  was  a  free  city,  with  large  commercial 
interests,  and  a  noted  educational  centre.  Saul's 
father  was  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  (Phil.  iii.  5)  and  in 
religion  a  Pharisee  (Acts  xxiii.  6).  It  is  not  known 
how  the  family  became  residents  of  Tarsus.  An  old 
tradition  makes  them  to  have  removed  thither  from 
Gischala  of  Galilee  when  the  latter  place  was  captured 
by  the  Romans.  Others  suppose  that  they  were  set- 
tled in  Tarsus  by  one  of  the  Syrian  kings  who  colo- 
nized many  Jews  in  Asia  Minor.  There  is  reason  to 
believe  that  the  family  connection  was  a  large  one 
(comp.  Acts  xxiii.  16  ;  Rom.  xvi.  7,  11,  21).  It  must 
have  been  also  influential,  for  Saul  was  both  a  citizen 
of  Tarsus  (Acts  xxi.  39)  and  a  free-born  Roman  (xxii. 
28)  ;  while  his  active  relations  to  the  Sanhedrim,  of 
which  he  seems,  though  a  young  man,  to  have  been  a 
member  (xxvi.  10),  his  prominence  in  Jerusalem 
(xxii.  5),  and  the  description  which  he  gives  of  his  high 


PAUL'S   EARLY   HISTORY  69 

ambitions  as  a  Jew  (Phil.  iii.  4-7),  indicate  that  he 
sprang  from  no  obscure  origin.  Nothing  is  known  of 
the  way  in  which  his  ancestor  obtained  the  Roman 
citizenship  which  Saul  inherited.  Equally  uncertain  is 
the  origin  of  the  second  name,  Paul,  by  which  he  calls 
himself,  and  by  which  Luke  describes  him  after  his 
missionary  work  among  the  Gentiles  had  begun  (Acts 
xiii.  9).  Some  have  supposed  that  he  assumed  it  after 
he  became  a  Christian,  and  various  explanations  of  its 
meaning  have  been  given.  But  it  is  more  probable 
that,  like  many  other  Jews  (Acts  i.  23  ;  xv.  37),  he  had 
from  the  beginning  both  names.  If  so, "  Paulus"  may 
point  to  some  connection  of  his  ancestors  with  the 
Roman  family  of  the  Pauli  (^Conyh.  and  Hoivson,  Life 
and  Ep.  of  St.  P.  p.  153) ;  or  it  may  have  been 
adopted  for  other,  and  perhaps  purely  personal,  reasons 
{Beissmann,  Bibel-Studien,  I.  p.  181).  As  a  Gentile 
name  it  was  naturally  employed  by  him  in  his  work 
among  the  Gentiles. 

72.  Although  foreign  born,  Saul  had  been  reared 
on  strictly  Jewish  principles  (Phil.  iii.  4-7).  There  is 
little  reason  to  suppose  that  he  was  influenced  in  his 
boyhood  by  the  intellectual  •  atmosphere  of  Tarsus. 
His  earliest  education  more  probably  was  in  the  nar- 
rower sphere  of  Jewish  studies.  Like  other  Jewish 
boys  he  was  taught  a  trade,  which  in  his  case  was  the 
manufacture  of  the  goat-hair  tents  used  by  travellers  ; 
and,  when  yet  a  lad,  he  was  sent  to  Jerusalem  to  com- 
plete his  education  under  one  of  the  great  Rabbis  (Acts 
xxi.  3).  His  teacher  was  Gamaliel  the  elder,  whose 
timely  address  prevented  on  one  occasion  the  death 
of  the  apostles  (sect.  52).  At  Gamaliel's  feet  Saul 
learned  the  traditions  of  the  scribes,  took  part  in  their 


70  EARLY  EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

exegetical  and  casuistic  discussions,  and  imbibed  a 
profound  devotion  to  Judaism  and  the  law.  Here  also 
he  must  have  acquired  that  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
Old  Testament  which  his  epistles  reveal.  He  developed 
into  the  intensest  of  Pharisees  (Acts  xxii.  3 ;  xxiii.  6  ; 
xxvi.  5  ;  Gal.  i.  14 ;  Phil.  iii.  5) ;  and  while  his  style 
of  argumentation,  after  he  became  a  Christian,  is 
wholly  devoid  of  the  merely  verbal  subtleties  and 
trivial  discussions  which  characterized  Rabbinism,  yet 
all  the  presuppositions  of  his  thought  remained  Hebrew 
to  the  end,  and  proves  that  his  mind,  in  its  formative 
period,  had  been  saturated  with  Jewish  belief.     , 

73,  It  is  true  that  the  speeches  and  letters  of  Paul 
indicate  some  acquaintance  with  Hellenic,  and  espe- 
cially Stoic,  thought.  He  can  hardly  be  said  indeed  to 
show  acquaintance  with  Greek  literature,  for  his  few 
quotations  (Acts  xvii.  28  ;  Tit.  i.  12)  are  not  sufficient 
to  prove  this.  Nor  does  his  style  of  composition  show 
the  rhetorical  training  of  the  schools.  On  the  other 
hand  his  use  of  some  philosophical  and  ethical  terms 
indicates  familiarity  with  {)agan  culture ;  and  his  pas- 
sion for  dialectical  argument  and  for  a  systematic  con- 
struction of  his  teaching  appear  rather  Hellenic  than 
Hebrew.  Occasionally,  too,  he  implies  acquaintance 
with  the  course  which  pagan  history  and  thought  had 
run  (Acts  xvii.  27  ;  I.  Cor.  i.  21 ;  ii.  6).  This  should 
warn  us  against  an  unduly  narrow  idea  of  his  educa- 
tion. In  those  days  of  wide  Greek  influence,  even  a 
pupil  in  the  school  of  a  Jerusalem  Rabbi  might  learn 
something  of  the  thought  of  the  outside  world;  and 
Gamaliel  was  reputed  to  be  fond  of  Greek  learning. 
It  is  more  likely,  however,  that  these  foreign  influences 
came  to  Saul  after  he  left  his  teacher.     It  is  not  im- 


PAUL'S  FEHSONALITY  71 

probable  that  he  returned,  for  a  while,  to  Tarsus,  sinee 
he  does  not  appear  to  have  been  in  Jerusalem  at  the 
time  of  Christ's  crucifixion.  If  so,  he  may  then  have 
pursued  other  studies  in  his  native  city.  Still  later 
his  eager  mind,  when  freed  from  Jewish  shackles  and 
penetrating  into  the  implications  of  his  new  faith, 
may  be  supposed  to  have  increased  its  acquaintance 
with  the  world's  thought  which  he  found  himself 
obliged  to  confront.  But  Hellenic  culture  never 
formed  a  constituent  element  of  his  teaching;  and  in 
his  youth  his  whole  mind  was  devoted  to  the  study 
and  observance  of  the  Hebrew  law. 

74.  Apart,  moreover,  from  the  religious  and  intel- 
lectual influences  which  acted  upon  him,  Saul  of  Tar- 
sus possessed  a  remarkable  personality.  He  was  one 
of  those  intense  natures  to  whom  truth  and  duty  are 
so  commanding  as  to  be  at  once  transmuted  into  life. 
His  mental  aptitudes  also  were  singularly  varied,  and 
in  every  direction  almost  equally  vigorous.  He  was 
a  keen  thinker.  To  him  a  principle  became  at  once 
fruitful  of  a  system,  so  that  he  followed  an  idea  to 
its  logical  implications.  Yet  he  had  a  strongly  emo- 
tional temperament.  He  was  capable  of  tremendous 
passion,  and  he  always  felt  the  full  reality  of  what  he 
enjoyed  or  suffered.  At  the  same  time  he  was  a  prac- 
tical man  of  affairs,  fond  of  public  action,  and  born 
to  be  a  leader  of  others.  It  is  rare  to  find  these 
qualities  combined,  but  unquestionably  they  were  com- 
bined in  Saul.  They  sprang  from  the  wonderful  in- 
tensity and  completeness  of  his  nature.  It  would 
seem  as  if  no  phase  of  life  or  experience  were  un- 
known to,  or  at  least  unappreciated  by,  him.  There 
also  appears  in  his  conduct  a  singular  union  of  strength 


72  EARLY   EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

and  tenderness,  of  strenuous  energy  with  pathetic  desire 
for  sympathy,  of  heroic  courage  with  passionate  love 
of  friends.  Most  characteristic  of  hiin  was  the  in- 
tensity of  his  religious  disposition.  To  his  soul,  even 
as  a  Jew,  the  religious  view  of  life  was  the  only  real 
one,  and  to  it  he  dedicated  his  powers  from  his  youth. 
He  could  truly  say  late  in  hfe,  "  I  thank  God,  whom  I 
serve  from  my  forefathers  with  a  pure  conscience" 
(II.  Tim.  i.  3).  He  was  a  Pharisee  because  Phari- 
saism, with  all  its  faults,  was  to  him  the  effort  to  em- 
body perfectly  in  life  the  will  of  God. 

75.  Such  was  the  man  who  first  appeared  upon  the 
scene  at  Stephen's  martyrdom.  He  had,  we  may  believe, 
recently  returned  to  Jerusalem,  and  had  doubtless  been 
one  of  those  (Acts  vi.  9)  who,  after  disputing  with  the 
Christian  in  the  synagogue,  had  prosecuted  him  before 
the  Sanhedrim.  At  his  feet  the  witnesses,  who  cast 
the  first  stones  at  the  condemned  man,  laid  their 
clothes.  Forthwith  he  became  the  leader  of  the  subse- 
quent persecution.  He  sought  the  position  (Acts  viii. 
3)  ;  and  when  the  disciples  fled,  he  pursued  them,  with 
authority  from  the  high-priest,  into  other  cities  (Acts 
ix.  1,  2;  xxii.  5;  xxvii.  11).  It  is  probable  that  this 
continued  for  a  year  or  more.  The  whole  intensity  of 
Saul's  nature  found  a  vent  in  this  fierce  religious 
crusade. 

76.  We  have  some  glimpses  also  into  the  motives  by 
which  he  was  actuated.  He  himself  refers  to  Jiis  per- 
secution of  the  disciples  as  evidence  of  the  sin  from 
which  the  grace  of  God  had  rescued  him  (^e.g.  Gal.  i. 
13  ;  I.  Tim.  i.  13).  He  makes  it  clear  that  he  was  ani- 
mated by  zeal  for  the  maintenance  of  Judaism,  against 
which,  since  Stephen's  address,  the  disciples  appeared 


PAUL'S   HOSPITALITY   TO   THE   NEW   SECT  73 

to  liim  to  be  unholy  renegades  ;  and  that  the  more  he 
persecuted,  the  fiercer  his  zeal  became  (Gal.i.  14).  As 
he  afterwards  saw,  he  was  ignorant  of  the  real  char- 
acter of  the  gospel,  and  acted  in  utter  unbelief  of  its 
truth  and  value  (I.  Tim.  i.  13).  Yet  at  the  time  he 
thought  that  he  was  doing  God  service  (Acts  xxii.  3  ; 
xxvi.  9).  He  was  a  conscientious  inquisitor,  moved  re- 
lentlessly to  the  work  by  his  sense  of  duty  ;  and  he  was 
so  entirely  blind  to  any  good  in  the  new  sect,  that  its  ex- 
tinction seemed  to  him  the  best  tribute  he  could  offer 
to  Jehovah. 

77.  It  is  thus  impossible  to  believe  that  any  predis- 
position toward  Christianity  existed  in  Saul's  mind 
before  his  conversion.  His  contact  with  Stephen  had 
only  aroused  his  anger.  It  is  wholly  gratuitous  to  as- 
sume that  in  his  heart  he  admired  what  he  so  violently 
persecuted.  Neither  is  it  possible  that  his  further  ac- 
quaintance w^ith  the  Christians  made  him  feel  the 
wrongfulness  of  his  conduct  or  doubt  the  truth  as  he 
then  held  it.  Such  a  supposition  is  directly  opposed  to 
his  own  testimony  (Gal.  i.  13,  14).  He  acted  in  un- 
doubting  unbelief  (I.  Tim.  i.  13).  To  him  Jesus  was 
an  impostor,  whose  Messianic  claims  were  blasplie- 
mous,  and  against  whom  duty  compelled  him  to  wage 
relentless  war  (Acts  xxvi.  9).  It  has  indeed  been 
alleged  that  the  words  which  he  reports  Jesus  to  have 
used  at  his  conversion, "  It  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick 
against  the  goad  "  (Acts  xxvi.  14,  R.  V.),  indicate  that 
he  had  been  forcing  himself  to  persecute  against  his 
conscience  and  better  convictions.  But  this  interpre- 
tation agrees  neither,  as  we  have  seen,  with  Paul's  own 
statements  nor  with  the  natural  meaning  of  the  meta- 
phor.     The  "  goad  "  rather  represents  the  purpose  of 


74  EAKLY  EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

God,  external  to  Paul,  which  was  really  leading  to  a 
service  the  very  opposite  of  what  he  wished.  There  is 
no  reason  to  doubt  that,  so  far  as  his  conscious  inten- 
tions went,  the  persecutor  did  not  question  the  rightful- 
ness of  his  course  nor  lessen  his  zeal  in  it. 

78.  At  the  same  time  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
the  young  Pharisee,  with  his  deeply  religious  nature, 
had  not  found  peace  in  Judaism.  This  seems  to  be 
implied  in  the  reminiscence  which  he  has  given  of  the 
disastrous  effect  upon  an  awakened  conscience  of  the 
realization  of  the  full  demands  of  God's  law  (Rom.  vii. 
9-11).  In  the  following  verses  (13-25)  he  gives  a 
further  analysis  of  the  nature  and  hopelessness  of  this 
bondage  to  sin  in  which  the  awakened  conscience  finds 
itself  ;  but  that  analysis  is  evidently  presented  in  the 
light  in  which  the  experience  afterward  appeared  to 
him  as  he  looked  back  upon  it,  and  he  cannot  be  sup- 
posed to  have  realized  at  the  time  the  full  truth  as  he 
came  to  see  it.  But  the  previous  verses  do  describe  an 
experience  when  he  was  under  the  law,  in  which  he  was 
led  to  perceive  its  deep  import,  and  that  it  bore  upon 
the  very  least  of  his  moral  desires  ;  so  that  before  its 
august  and  penetrating  judgment  he  felt  himself  a  dead 
man.  If  we  accept  this  key  to  his  spiritual  history, 
we  can  hardly  doubt  that  Saul  had  felt  already  that 
the  paramount  necessity  for  him  was  to  secure  for 
himself  the  perfect  satisfaction  of  the  law.  He  saw 
already  that  peace  could  only  come  through  the  posses- 
sion of  a  righteousness  which  would  meet  the  claims 
of  a  law  whose  universal  scope  he  painfully  perceived. 
Such  a  man  could  not  have  been  satisfied  with  the  per- 
formance of  a  ritual.  We  may  believe  that  he  had 
known  profound  unrest  as  he  faced  the  I'cal  verdict  of 


PAUL'S  CONVERSION  75 

the  law  against  himself.  But  this  only  drove  him,  as 
it  has  many  others,  to  greater  efforts  to  obey,  and  his 
persecution  of  the  Nazarenes  may  be  partly  explained 
as  due  to  his  intense  desire  to  establish  the  law  and 
fulfil  his  own  part  toward  it.  So  far,  however,  as  his 
conscious  purposes  were  concerned,  there  was  only 
antagonism  towards  Jesus  and  his  disciples. 

79.  Yet  this  man,  while  on  his  persecuting  mission, 
was  suddenly  converted.  Three  accounts  of  the  event 
are  given  in  the  Acts ;  one  by  Luke  (ix.  3-18)  and 
two  by  Paul  himself  (xxii.  6-16  ;  xxvi.  12-18).  Each 
account  is  controlled  by  the  immediate  purpose  of  the 
narrator.  Luke,  with  a  purely  historical  motive, 
briefly  relates  the  event  itself.  Paul's  first  account, 
because  defending  himself  before  the  Jews,  empha- 
sizes the  part  which  the  devout  Jew  Ananias  had  in 
the  transaction.  When  addressing  Agrippa,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  does  not  mention  Ananias,  and  con- 
denses the  Lord's  subsequent  commands  into  one 
statement.  Such  variations  are  natural,  and  even 
assure  us  of  the  veracity  of  the  reports.  Other  minor 
variations  in  the  accounts  (comp.  ix.  7  with  xxvi.  14 
and  xxii.  9)  are  explainableby  the  supposition  that  at 
first  all  the  company  fell  upon  tlie  ground,  but  that 
Saul  alone  remained  prostrate,  and  that  while  his 
companions  heard  the  voice,  he  alone  understood  the 
words  which  were  spoken  to  him. 

80.  We  learn,  then,  that  when  near  Damascus, 
whither  he  was  going  to  arrest,  by  the  high-priest's 
authority,  the  followers  of  Jesus,  suddenly  and  at 
noon  a  bright  light  from  heaven  flashed  around  him 
and  his  companions.  So  overwhelming  was  its  bril- 
liance that  they  all  fell  upon  the  ground,  and  the  man 


76  EARLY   EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

of  Tarsus  heard,  in  Hebrew,  the  words,  "  Saul,  Saul, 
why  persecutest  thou  me  ?  It  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick 
against  the  goad."  To  his  question,  "  Who  art  thou, 
Lord  ? "  the  reply  was,  "  I  am  Jesus,  the  Nazarene, 
whom  thou  persecutest."  Utterly  crushed  by  this 
revelation  of  the  heavenly  nature  of  the  one  he  had 
despised,  Saul  asked,  "  What  shall  I  do,  Lord  ? "  The 
answer  was,  "  Arise,  and  go  into  Damascus,  and  it 
shall  be  told  thee  what  thou  must  do,"  Meanwhile 
his  companions  had  risen  and  were  standing  in  amaze- 
ment. When  Saul  arose,  he  was  found  to  be  blind, 
and  was  led  by  the  hand  into  the  city.  There  he  con- 
tinued three  days  in  fasting  and  prayer  in  the  house  of 
a  certain  Judas.  On  the  third  day  a  Jewish  disciple, 
Ananias,  who  had  received  directions  from  the  Lord, 
went  to  him  and  in  Christ's  name  declared  the  for- 
giveness of  his  sins  (xxii.  16),  that  he  had  been 
chosen  as  a  messenger  of  Messiah,  and  that  he  might 
receive  with  baptism  the  gift  of  the  Spirit.  Thereupon 
his  sight  was  restored  and  he  was  baptized. 

81.  These  brief  reports  evidently  imply  more  than 
they  actually  record.  None  of  them  affirm  that  Saul 
saw  Jesus.  But  they  clearly  mean  that  he  did ;  for 
not  only  did  Ananias  speak  of  Jesus  as  having  "  ap- 
peared "  to  him  (ix.  17)  in  order  that  he  should  see 
that  Just  One  (xxii.  14),  but  afterwards  Barnabas 
affirmed  "  how  he  had  seen  the  Lord  in  the  way " 
(ix.  27),  and  Paul  himself  declared  that  he  was  a 
witness  of  what  he  had  scc7i  (xxvi.  16).  We  are  not 
dependent,  however,  on  the  Acts.  Paul  refers  to  the 
event  in  his  epistles.  He  describes  his  conversion  as 
a  work  solely  of  divine  power  and  favor,  whereby  he 
was   transformed   into  the  opposite  of   what  he   had 


PAUL'S  ACCOUNT  OF  HIS  CONVERSION  77 

been  before  (I.  Cor.  ix.  17;  xv.  10;  Gal.  i.  15;  Eph. 
iii.  7  ;  1.  Tim.  i.  12,  13,  16  ;  II.  Tim.  i.  11).  He  de- 
clares that  he  had  seen  the  risen  Jesus,  and  had  thus 
been  qualified  for  apostleship  (I.  Cor.  ix.  1 ;  xv.  8). 
He  further  relates  that  this  objective  revelation  of  the 
Christ  had  been  accompanied  by  a  spiritual  illumination 
of  his  mind,  so  that  he  was  enabled  to  grasp  the  truth 
about  Jesus  in  order  to  proclaim  it  to  the  world  (Gal. 
i.  16).  According  to  his  own  accounts,  therefore,  God 
revealed  his  Son  to  and  in  him.  The  transaction  had 
both  its  objective  and  subjective  sides.  The  former, 
however,  is  represented  as  the  basis  of  the  latter.  He 
describes  it  as  a  visible  appearance  of  Jesus  and  a 
verbal  declaration  of  his  will.  On  the  basis  of  this  he 
also  describes  himself  as  subjectively  enlightened  and 
quickened  by  the  power  of  God,  so  that  he  received  the 
new  truth  and  willingly  devoted  himself  to  it.  The 
accounts  do  not  represent  the  transaction,  on  its  sub- 
jective side,  as  entirely  instantaneous.  It  was  not 
magical.  Three  days  of  prayer  were  required  to  com- 
plete liis  conversion.  But  the  objective  revelation  is 
represented  by  the  apostle  himself  as  unheralded  and 
peremptory,  and  he  always  ascribes  the  change  wrought 
in  him  to  the  sovereign  and  gracious  exercise  of  divine 
power. 

82.  Saul's  conversion,  then,  must  be  regarded  as 
occasioned  by  a  supernatural  revelation  of  Jesus  to 
him.  The  transaction  partook  partly  of  the  character 
of  a  spiritual  vision.  The  figure  of  Jesus  was  not  seen 
by  Paul's  companions,  nor  were  the  words  understood  ; 
and  we  cannot  say  in  such  an  event  how  much  his 
physical  organs  were  re-enforced  by  the  awakened  per- 
ceptions of  the  soul.     Yet  the  light  was  seen  and  the 


78  EAELY  EXPANSION  OF  CHKISTIANITY 

sound  was  heard  by  all,  while  the  effects  of  the  mani- 
festation on  Saul  himself  were  physical  as  well  as 
spiritual.  The  manifestation  of  Jesus  was  thus  objec- 
tively real.  That  we  are  not  dealing  with  a  legend  is 
proved  by  Paul's  own  testimony  to  it.  It  is  equally 
impossible  to  explain  it  as  an  illusion  of  his  mind. 
There  was  in  him,  as  we  have  seen,  no  predisposition 
toward  Christianity,  but  resolute  and  reasoned  antag- 
onism up  to  the  very  moment  of  the  experience. 
Hence  no  psychological  basis  existed  for  the  creation 
of  an  illusion.  Yet  the  experience  suddenly  and  en- 
tirely changed  his  belief  and  life  ;  and  his  whole  sub- 
sequent career  attests  the  absolute  certitude  which  it 
produced  in  him.  A  fair  interpretation  of  the  whole 
evidence  com{)els  us  to  accept  the  explanation  of  the 
event  which  Paul  himself  has  given. 

83.  It  is  sometimes  said,  indeed,  that  Paul  was  a 
mystic,  and  predisposed  to  ecstatic  experiences.  It  is 
pointed  out  that  he  claims  to  have  had  frequently 
visions  and  revelations  (e.  g.  I.  Thess.  iv.  15 ;  Gal.  ii. 
2  ;  II.  Cor.  xii.  1,  7)  ;  and  it  is  suggested  that  the 
very  frequency  of  them  throws  doubt  on  their  reality. 
The  possibility  of  such  heavenly  communications  should, 
however,  not  be  denied  by  those  who  accept  the  super- 
naturalness  of  Christianity.  The  only  question  is, 
whether  these  visions  and  revelations  commend  them- 
selves by  their  intrinsic  character  and  the  rationality 
of  the  one  who  claims  to  have  received  them.  With 
respect  to  this  it  should  be  noted  that  they  are  treated 
with  marked  reserve  by  Paul.  Allusion  is  made  to 
them  only  when  on  special  occasions  it  was  necessary 
for  the  sake  of  others.  Further,  so  far  as  we  learn  any- 
thing about  them,  they  were  adapted   to   the  specific 


PAUL   AS   A   CHRISTIAN  79 

in  eds  of  the  apostle  at  the  time.  They  were  not  un- 
1.  filiated  ecstasies,  but  were  limited  to  such  commu- 
nications as  his  historical  situation  required.  And, 
fmally,  they  appear  in  Paul's  life  in  entire  subordination 
to  the  rational  attainment  and  presentation  of  truth. 
While  lie  occasionally  appealed  to  them,  they  did  not 
supplant  his  intellectual  life  nor  the  vigor  of  his  argu- 
mentation. To  this  it  may  be  added  that  Luke  makes 
Paul  describe  the  appearance  of  Christ  to  him  by  a 
term  (Acts  xxvi,  19,  "  spectacle  ")  which  the  historian 
elsewhere  applies  to  supernatural  manifestations  seen 
by  persons  in  their  ordinary  state  of  mind  (Luke  i.  22  ; 
XX iv.  23),  whereas  he  commonly  uses  another  phrase 
for  visions  seen  either  in  sleep  or  ecstasy  (Acts  ix.  10, 
12  ;  X.  3  ;  xi.  5  ;  xii.  9,  etc.).  Whether,  therefore,  we 
consider  the  apostle's  own  descriptions  of  his  religious 
experiences,  or  his  historian's  report  of  the  conversion, 
the  manifestation  of  Jesus  to  Paul  must  still  be  ac- 
cepted as  an  objective  and  supernatural  fact. 

84.  But  how  much  of  Christianity  did  Paul  possess 
as  the  immediate  result  of  his  conversion  ?  How  are 
we  to  conceive  his  state  of  mind  when  he  was  thus 
transformed  ?  He  himself  describes  his  knowledge  of 
the  gospel  as  due  to  revelation  by  Jesus  (Gal.  i.  12,  15, 
16).  He  represents  himself  as  an  independent  witness 
and  apostle.  This  implies  that  through  the  experience 
of  conversion,  as  well  as  through  subsequent  revelations, 
he  came  into  the  possession  of  Christian  truth.  It  is 
true  that  the  co-operation  of  other  agencies  was  not 
excluded.  He  brought  to  his  new  life  a  rich  acquaint- 
ance with  the  Old  Testament,  wliich,  as  with  the  older 
disciples,  was  forthwith  illumined  by  his  new  faith  in 
Jesus.     He  brought  also  certain  theological  ideas,  in- 


80  EAELY   EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY 

eluding  not  only  monotheism,  but  belief  in  salvation  as 
consisting  in  the  possession  of  righteousness  before 
God,  as  well  as  the  doctrines  of  propitiation  by  sacri- 
fice, of  a  future  judgment,  a  resurrection  of  the  body, 
and  a  Messianic  kingdom  of  glory.  These  ideas  con- 
stituted the  moulds  in  which  his  new  faith  would  still 
run  and  to  which  it  would  naturally  adjust  itself.  Nor 
are  we  to  suppose  that  he  sought  from  older  Christians 
no  information  about  Jesus  and  his  teaching.  Cer- 
tainly he  was  afterwards  well  acquainted  with  the 
current  evangelical  narrative  {e.  g.  I.  Thess.  v.  1  ;  I. 
Cor.  vii.  10  ;  ix.  14  ;  xi.  23-25  ;  xv.  3,  etc. ;  II.  Cor.  v. 
21  ;  viii.  9  ;  x.  1  ;  Rom.  xii.  17,  20  ;  xv.  3 ;  Phil.  ii.  7, 
8  ;  I.  Tim.  vi.  13).  At  the  same  time  it  is  clear  from 
his  own  expressions  that  his  equipment  as  a  teacher 
of  Christianity  was  gained  mainly  from  his  wondrous 
experience  and  spiritual  illumination.  These  were  of 
such  a  marked  character,  and  Paul  himself  was  such 
an  intense  and  independent  man,  that  his  ai)prehension 
of  the  faith  was  from  the  beginning  controlled  by  the 
way  in  which  he  had  been  led  to  it. 

85.  Did  he  then  at  once  realize  all  that  afterwards 
he  taught  ?  Extreme  views  have  been  held  on  both 
sides  of  this  question,  and  probably  the  truth  lies  be- 
tween them.  On  the  one  hand  his  epistles  reveal  a 
mind  which  steadily  advanced  in  the  statement  of  doc- 
trine in  accordance  with  the  needs  of  his  readers,  and 
apparently  with  the  impulse  of  his  own  mind  toward 
com})leteness  of  teaching.  This  makes  it  natural  to 
suppose  that  in  the  earlier  period,  from  which  we  have 
no  products  of  his  pen,  a  similar  progress  took  place. 
On  the  other  hand  the  fundamental  points  of  his  belief 
appear  fully  established    in  his    earliest  epistles,  and 


PAUL'S   FUNDAMENTAL   BELIEFS  81 

never  changed.  In  Galatians  (i.  16 ;  ii.  2,  14-21)  he 
speaks  of  his  gospel  as  that  which  he  had  proclaimed 
from  the  beginning.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that 
immediatel}'^  upon  his  conversion  he  became  possessed 
of  the  essential  points  of  his  distinctive  apostolic 
teaching,  while  their  implications  and  full  expression 
were  gradually  wrought  out. 

S6.  What,  then,  were  these  fundamental  beliefs  of 
the  converted  persecutor  ?  His  knowledge  of  Jesus 
and  the  glory  in  which  he  had  beheld  him  constituted 
the  primary  fact  on  which  his  new  faith  rested.  He 
now  knew  that  the  Nazarene  was  the  Messiah;  The 
Crucified  was  alive  and  clothed  with  divine  power  ;  and 
Paul  always  considered  this  to  be  proof  of  the  resur- 
rection to  which  the  older  apostles  testified  (I.  Cor.  xv. 
3-8).  He  also  now  knew  Jesus  to  be  a  superhuman 
and  heavenly  being,  God's  messenger  and  representa- 
tive. This  is  expressed  by  the  title  "  Son  of  God " 
which  he  at  once  applied  to  liim  (Acts  ix.  20 ;  Gal.  i, 
16).  Jesus  was  "  the  Lord  from  heaven  "  (I.  Cor.  xv. 
47).  There  is  nothing,  indeed,  to  show  as  yet  how  far 
Paul  penetrated  into  the  mystery  of  Christ's  person ; 
but  the  sight  of  Jesus,  possessed  of  divine  glory  and 
power,  revolutionized  his  religious  thought  and  gave 
the  fixed  point  about  which  faith  and  duty  necessarily 
turned. 

87.  With  this  was  joined  the  fact  that  he  had  been 
called  into  his  new  life  by  the  pure  favor  of  God  in  the 
very  midst  of  his  enmity  against  the  Lord.  His 
former  life  now  appeared  stained  by  the  worst  folly 
and  sin.  His  obedience  to  the  law  had  not  saved  him. 
In  fact,  his  effort  to  obey  it  had  led  him  into  the  greatest 
sin.     His  call  by  Christ  had  therefore  been  an  act  of 

6 


82  EAELY  EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY 

mere  grace.  His  hope  could  only  rest  on  the  favor  and 
power  of  Jesus,  which  had  been  mercifully  shown  to 
him.  By  this  the  whole  of  his  former  conception  of 
the  way  in  which  he  was  to  obtain  salvation  was  swept 
away.  If  he  had  long  ago  realized  that  he  had  not 
really  kept  the  law,  he  now  realized  that  salvation  was 
not  to  be  had  by  him  through  keeping  it.  His  salva- 
tion was  of  Christ  by  grace,  and  only  his  faith  in  the 
Lord,  who  had  revealed  himself,  could  reassure  him  as 
he  now  contemplated  both  the  unbelief  of  the  past, 
with  its  hostility  to  the  truth,  and  the  sinfulness  of  his 
heart  as  even  the  law  had  shown  it  to  him.  Thus  the 
keynotes  of  Paul's  teaching  were  sounded  in  the  ex- 
perience through  which  he  was  led.  Faith  in  Jesus  as 
the  exalted  Messiah  who  was  able  to  save,  and  entire 
dependence  on  God's  grace  in  Christ,  formed  from  the 
beginning  the  two  foci  of  his  Christian  consciousness. 

88.  Yet  Paul's  mind  could  not  have  stopped  here. 
Two  questions  imperatively  demanded  an  answer. 
How  could  this  salvation  by  unmerited  favor  be  recon- 
ciled with  the  claims  of  the  law  on  every  man  ?  Why 
had  Messiah  died  a  death  of  shame  ?  We  must  ascer- 
tain the  answer  which  Paul  gave  from  his  own  writings. 
According  to  Galatians  (ii.  14-21)  he  reminded  Peter 
that  they  had  believed  in  Jesus  in  order  that  they 
might  be  justified,  that  is,  declared  righteous  before  God, 
since  they  had  discovered  that  by  the  works  of  the  law 
none  could  be  justified.  Speaking  of  himself  he  adds, 
"  I,  through  the  law  [operating  upon  Christ],  died  to 
the  law  [as  the  object  of  my  endeavor  in  order  to  be 
saved],  that  I  might  live  unto  God.  I  have  been  cruci- 
fied with  Christ."  Still  again  (iii.  13),  "  Christ  hath 
redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  being  made  a 


KIGHTEOUSNESS  THROUGH  FAITH  83 

curse  for  us"  (comp. ,  too,  Rom.  iii.  21-26).  Tlicse 
statements  show  that  the  death  of  Jesus  was  regarded 
as  the  satisfaction  of  the  claims  of  the  law  upon  the 
sinner.  He  had  paid  the  penalty  which  the  violated  law 
demanded  ;  had  thus  procured  for  the"  sinner  reconcilia- 
tion with  God,  the  lawgiver ;  and  the  faith  in  Jesus, 
which  Paul  had  found  in  his  conversion  to  be  tlie  sole 
condition  of  his  enjoyment  of  salvation,  had  its  suffi- 
ciency explained  by  the  completeness  of  the  work  which 
the  suffering  Messiah  had  accomplished  in  his  behalf. 
This  truth  must  have  been  realized  by  Paul  very  early. 
It  fitted  precisely  into  his  Hebrew  idea  of  salvation  as 
the  possession  of  righteousness.  The  only  difference 
was  that  this  was  a  righteousness  provided  by  God,  not 
achieved  by  himself.  The  idea  appears  in  his  earliest 
recorded  address  (Acts  xiii.  39).  He  was  doubtless 
helped  to  it  also  by  the  teaching  of  the  Old  Testament, 
in  which  he  found  two  passages  in  particular,  which 
are  quoted  by  him  at  crucial  jjoints  in  his  arguments. 
The  one  was  the  promise  to  Abraham  (Gen.  xii.  3 ; 
xxii.  18)  that  in  him  and  in  his  seed  should  all  nations  be 
blessed  (Gal.  iii.  8,  16,  29),  and  the  other  was  the  words 
of  Habakkuk  (ii.  4),  which  he  translates,  "  The  just 
shall  Hve  by  faith"  (Rom.  i.  17;  Gal.  iii.  11).  In  the 
one  case  he  found  the  idea  of  salvation  through  a  rep- 
resentative ;  in  the  other,  salvation  through  faith. 
Both  passages  illuminated  the  doctrine  of  righteous- 
ness procured  by  the  death  of  Christ  for  those  who 
believe  in  him. 

89.  To  Paul,  moreover,  laying  hold  of  Christ  as  his 
Redeemer  and  Lord,  faith  meant  trust  to  the  i^oint  of 
absolute  self-surrender,  and  the  conviction  that  his  life 
had  been  taken  under  the  control  of  Christ,  and  was 


84  EARLY  EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY 

revitalized  by  Christ's  indwelling  spirit.  This  was 
based  on  the  thought  that  by  the  favor  of  God  he  was 
included  in  all  the  work  of  Christ  and  in  all  of  its  results. 
In  the  most  emphatic  and  intimate  sense  he  was  "  in 
Christ."  The  conception  was  primarily  legal,  but  also 
vital.  He  could  not  conceive  of  the  one  aspect  of  this 
union  without  the  other.  Christ's  satisfaction  of  the  law 
for  him  involved  necessarily  the  believer's  experience  of 
a  spiritual  transformation  corresponding  to  the  work  of 
Christ.  In  Christ  he  had  died  to  the  law  and  to  sin, 
and  risen  unto  newness  of  life  toward  God.  In  Christ 
he  had  both  obtained  reconciliation  with  God,  and 
experimental  enjoyment  of  it  through  the  bestowment 
upon  him  of  Christ's  quickening  and  transforming 
Spirit.  Thus  he  had  received  the  spiritual  power  by 
which  his  sinful  nature,  or  the  flesh,  was  ccntrolled 
and  would  finally  be  destroyed.  This  was  Christ  in 
him  as,  on  the  other  hand,  Christ  had  stood  for  him. 
In  short,  as  Christ  had  identified  himself  with  Paul 
before  the  law,  so  by  faith  Paul  identified  himself  with 
Christ  in  his  own  experience.  Faith  thus  meant  for 
him  entire  self-surrender  to  Christ,  that  both  Christ's 
satisfaction  of  the  law  might  be  his,  and  the  power  of 
the  victorious  Christ  might  operate  within  him.  As  he 
wrote, "  I  have  been  crucified  with  Christ,"  so  he  added, 
"yet  I  live;  and  yet  no  longer  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in 
me;  and  that  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live 
in  faith,  the  faith  which  is  in  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved 
me  and  gave  himself  up  for  me"  (Gal.  ii.  20,  R.  V.). 

90.  Thus  by  this  mental  and  moral  revolution 
Paul  not  only  became  a  Christian,  but  was  led  to 
apprehend  Christianity  in  a  way  destined  to  be  of 
the  greatest  significance  for  the  history  of  the  faith. 


PAUL'S   LIFE   AFTER   HIS  CONVERSION  85 

The  true  relation  of  the  believer  to  tlie  law  was  dis- 
covered. The  latter  was  a  preparation  for  faith.  It 
was  intended  to  disclose  the  sinner's  need  of  Christ. 
Therewith  the  death  of  Christ  took  on  its  full  signifi- 
cance as  the  satisfaction  of  the  law  for  the  believer, 
and  the  idea  that  the  Jewish  law  was  permanently 
binding  on  believers  received  its  death-blow.  All  this 
was  but  the  logical  unfolding  of  the  doctrine  of  salva- 
tion by  faith  in  Jesus  which  Peter  and  others  had 
preached.  It  was  also  the  logical  result  of  that  faith 
in  himself  which  Jesus  had  required  of  his  disciples 
(see  sect.  14).  But  through  the  conversion  of  Paul 
tlie  truth  was  brought  to  full  expression,  and  the  man 
and  the  doctrine  were  prepared  which  were  destined 
to  release  the  new  faith  from  Judaism  and  to  interpret 
it  to  the  Gentile  world. 

91.  Paul's  life  immediately  after  his  conversion  is 
traced  briefly  in  Acts  ix.  19-30  and  Galatians  i.  16- 
24  (comp.  also  11.  Cor.  xi.  32,  33).  He  soon  began,  on 
the  authority  of  his  new  commission,  to  preach  in  the 
synagogues  of  Damascus  that  Jesus  was  the  Son  of 
God,  and  to  prove  him  to  be  Messiah.  Filled  with 
the  joy  of  personal  salvation," convinced  that  the  risen 
Christ  had  appeared  to  him  and  made  him  his  am- 
bassador, illuminated  in  his  understanding  of  the 
Scriptures  by  his  new  faith,  he  bore  his  testimony  to 
the  heavenly  dignity  of  Jesus  and  the  truth  of  his 
Messianic  claims.  Such  a  man  as  he  needed  only 
the  experience  through  whicli  he  had  passed  to  be  at 
once  qualified  for  service.  But,  while  he  made  dis- 
ciples, his  course  roused,  as  was  natural,  the  hatred  of 
the  Jews.  The  latter  were  favored  in  a  plot  to  kill 
him  bv  the  fact  that  Damascus  was  then   under  the 


86  EARLY   EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

control  of  the  Nabatseans,  a  nation  inhabiting  ancient 
Edom.  The  daughter  of  the  reigning  king,  Aretas 
IV.,  had  been  the  first  wife  of  Herod  Antipas.  In  b.  c. 
88,  the  Nabatteans  had  conquered  Damascus,  and  even 
after  the  Roman  conquest  of  Syria  their  hold  on  the 
ancient  city  continued  more  or  less  constant.  It 
has  been  noted  that  from  35  to  61  a.  d.  there  are 
no  Damascene  coins  bearing  the  Emperor's  image. 
While  the  precise  and  probably  fluctuating  political 
relations  of  Damascus  during  the  first  century  are 
often  obscure,  there  is  no  reason  to  question  Paul's 
statement  that  it  was  at  this  time  governed  by  the  eth- 
narch  of  Aretas  (II.  Cor.  xi.  32).  The  relations  of  the 
Nabatseans  with  the  Jews  had  generally  been  friendly. 
It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  ethnarch  lent 
his  aid  to  the  Jews  and  sought  to  prevent  Paul's  escape. 
The  latter,  however,  was  let  down  in  a  basket  from  a 
window  in  the  wall  and  so  secured  his  liberty. 

92.  In  this  period,  liowever,  occurred  Paid's  sojourn 
in  Arabia,  to  which  he  alludes  in  Galatians  i.  17.  It 
is  not  mentioned  in  Acts,  doubtless  because  it  was  of 
no  public  importance.  Paul  mentions  it  simply  to 
show  that  after  his  conversion  he  had  not  sought  in- 
struction from  the  older  apostles.  The  journey  seems 
to  have  taken  place  either  during  his  work  in  Damas- 
cus related  by  Luke,  or  else  after  his  escape  from  the 
city.  In  either  case  he  returned  to  Damascus  from 
Arabia.  The  length  of  his  stay  in  Arabia  and  what 
he  did  there  are  equally  unknown.  Some  have  sup- 
posed that  he  sought  a  field  of  work.  Others,  with 
more  probability,  su])pose  that  he  sought  retirement 
and  opportunity  for  reflection.  Neither  do  we  know 
the  place  in  Arabia  to  which  he  retired.     But  wher- 


PAUL'S  RETURN  TO  JERUSALEM        87 

ever  in  the  three  years  following  his  conversion  we 
place  the  journey  to  Arabia,  the  principal  fact  is  that 
he  first  made  Damascus,  whither  he  had  gone  as  a 
persecutor,  the  scene  of  his  confession  of  Jesus  and 
of  his  earliest  service  to  the  cause  he  had  so  suddenly 
been  led  to  espouse. 

93.  It  was  not  till  the  third  year  after  his  conversion 
that  Paul  returned  to  Jerusalem  (Gal.  i.  18-23;  Acts 
ix.  26-30).  He  tells  us  that  he  went  to  visit  Peter, 
wishing,  doubtless,  to  connect  his  own  work  with  that 
of  the  original  apostles.  He  mentions,  also,  that  of  the 
loaders  of  the  Jerusalem  church  he  saw,  besides  Peter, 
only  James  the  Lord's  brother ;  that  his  stay  was 
limited  to  fifteen  days;  and  that  then,  being  still 
unknown  by  face  to  the  churches  of  Judea,  lie  departed 
to  Syria  and  Cilicia  to  preach  the  faith  which  formerly 
he  had  destroyed.  The  account  in  Acts  gives  other 
particulars.  We  there  learn  that  the  brethren  in  Jeru- 
salem wore  afraid  of  him,  but  that  Barnabas  took 
him  to  "  the  apostles  "  and  related  the  appearance  of 
Jesus  to  liim  and  his  zeal  as  a  preacher  in  Damascus. 
Tt  is  added  that  in  Jerusalem  he  preached  to  his  old 
friends,  the  Hellenistic  Jews ;  but  that,  wlion  they 
sought  to  slay  him,  the  brethren  brought  him  to 
Caisarea  and  thence  sent  him  to  Tarsus. 

94.  These  accounts  by  Paul  and  Luke  have  been 
thought  inharmonious ;  but  they  are  capable  of  a  natural 
adjustment  when  the  points  of  view  of  the  two  writers 
are  considered.  Tlie  visit  was  brief,  but  not  too  brief 
to  preclude  an  attempt  to  bear  his  witness  before  those 
with  whom  he  had  formerly  blasphemed  his  master's 
name.  PTis  main  purpose  was  to  visit  Peter,  but  that 
did  not  exclude   his    reception    by    other  disciples  in 


88  EARLY  EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

Jerusalem.  Luke  states  that  Barnabas  took  him  to 
"  the  apostles  ; "  but  while  this  expression  would  in 
the  absence  of  other  information  naturally  suggest  the 
whole  body  of  apostles  or  a  considerable  number  of 
them,  it  is  not  incorrectly  used  if  he  was  introduced  to 
whatever  representatives  of  that  body  happened  to  be 
in  the  city.  Luke  commonly  restricts  the  term 
"  apostle  "  to  its  narrower  sense,  but  he  applies  it  twice 
so  as  to  include  Barnabas  (xiv.  4,  14).  It  may  be, 
therefore,  that  in  this  instance  he  had  in  mind  Peter 
and  James,  the  Lord's  brother,  whom  we  know  that 
Paul  met.  Or  he  may  have  intended  merely  to  record 
the  fact  that  Paul  was  introduced  to  the  apostolic  body 
without  regarding  it  as  important  whether  one  or 
several  representatives  of  it  were  present.  In  like 
manner,  Paul's  statement  that  he  was  unknown  by  face 
to  the  churches  of  Judea  is  not  inconsistent  with  Luke's 
statement  that  he  preached  to  the  Hellenists,  nor  need 
the  language  mean  that  no  disciples  in  Jerusalem 
except  Peter  and  James  knew  him  personally.  Both 
accounts  agree  finally  that  from  Jerusalem  he  went  to 
Syria  (Caesarea)  and  Cilicia  (Tarsus). 

95.  We  infer,  therefore,  that  the  knowledge  of  his 
vocation  had  wakened  in  Paul's  mind  the  desire  for  co- 
operation with  the  older  leaders  of  the  church.  He 
makes  it  plain  indeed  in  Galatians  that  he  maintained 
his  independent  authority  as  an  apostle  of  Christ,  but 
this  does  not  exclude  the  wish  to  work  in  harmony  with 
others.  The  latter  indeed  is  proved  by  Galatians  ii. 
1-10,  to  have  been  his  desire  throughout  his  ministry. 
Nor  need  we  suppose  that  his  future  mission  was  as  yet 
entirely  clear  to  Paul  himself.  During  this  visit  to 
Jerusalem  must  be  placed  the  vision  which  ho  had  in 


GRADUAL  UNFOLDING  OF  FAUL'S  VOCATION   89 

the  temple  (Acts  xxii.  17-21)  in  which  he  was  directed, 
in  spite  of  his  wish  to  tiie  contrary,  to  leave  Jerusalem 
and  go  to  the  Gentiles.  In  coming  to  Jerusalem,  there- 
fore, he  seems  to  have  wished  to  take  part  with  the 
older  apostles  in  their  work.  The  full  significance  of 
his  commission  as  stated  in  general  terms  by  Ananias 
had  not  become  clear ;  still  less  did  he  for  a  moment 
think  of  establishing  a  separate  movement.  The  vision 
in  the  temple,  however,  made  his  commission  clearer, 
and  with  the  cordial  recognition  of  his  vocation  by  at 
least  the  leaders  of  the  church  in  Jerusalem,  did  he  seek 
other  fields  of  labor. 

96.  Still  further,  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  ques- 
tion of  the  observance  of  the  law  by  Gentile  converts 
had  yet  been  raised.  We  cannot  say  whether  the  con- 
version of  Cornelius  had  occurred.  If  it  had,  the 
brethren  in  Jerusalem,  not  foreseeing  the  storm  which 
was  to  arise  afterwards  on  this  subject,  would  the  more 
readily  assume  that  Paul  might  evangelize  Gentiles 
without  disturbing  the  existing  status.  But  more 
probably  the  question  had  not  yet  been  raised  at  all. 
Zeal  for  the  extension  of  the  faith  absorbed  attention, 
and  the  Jews  themselves  had-  so  long  engaged  in  prose- 
lyting that  similar  work  by  the  Christians  must  have 
seemed  not  unnatural.  Moreover,  Paul,  then  as  after- 
wards, was  bent  on  first  offering  the  gospel  to  the  Jews 
in  foreign  lands  and  from  the  synagogue  reaching  the 
Gentiles.  We  may  therefore  believe  that  his  peculiar 
vocation  opened  before  him  gradually.  The  situation, 
both  as  regards  his  attitude  and  that  of  the  mother 
church,  was  not  such  as  to  call  forth  any  friction  ;  and 
this  was  true,  although,  as  we  have  seen,  both  his  reli- 
gious experience  and  the  commission  he  had  received 


90  EAELY   EXPANSION   OF   CHKISTIANITY 

pointed,  as  subsequent  events  proved, to  a  gospel  for 
Gentiles  independent  of  any  relation  to  the  Jewish  law. 
The  expanding  Christianity  was,  however,  being  pro- 
vided with  its  future  leader. 

97.  Paul's  life  for  the  next  eight  or  nine  years  is  for 
us  wholly  in  the  dark.  He  implies  (Gal.  i.  23)  that  he 
was  actively  engaged  in  preaching  Jesus.  The  churches 
of  Cilicia  (Acts  xv.  41),  with  others  in  Syria,  may  have 
owed  their  origin  to  liis  labors  during  this  period.  How 
far  they  contained  Gentiles  we  do  not  know  ;  yet  the 
fact  that  afterwards  Barnabas  brought  Paul  from  Tar- 
sus to  Antioch,  when  the  distinctively  Gentile  work  in 
the  latter  city  began,  seems  to  imply  that  already  his 
labors  had  been  among  Gentiles,  and  that  Christ's  com- 
mission of  him  to  such  work  was  known.  But  this 
obscure  period  must  have  been  a  fruitful  one  in  Paul's 
own  life.  The  significance  and  implications  of  his  faith 
must  have  become  clearer  to  him.  His  understanding 
of  the  mission  and  teaching  of  his  Lord  must  have  ad- 
vanced. The  widening  work  must  have  increasingly 
attracted  him.  The  claims  of  Judaism  must  have  daily 
hung  more  loosely  upon  him  ;  for  when  he  next  appears 
in  the  history  we  find  him  fully  committed  to  the  free- 
dom of  Gentiles  from  the  law.  During  this  period  he 
had  also  many  experiences  in  the  service  and  fellowship 
of  Jesus  which,  though  unknown  to  us,  entered  pro- 
foundly into  his  religious  life  ;  for  here  we  must  place 
some  of  the  perils  which  he  endured  (II.  Cor.  xi.  23-27) 
and  the  visions  and  revelations  which  he  received  (II. 
Cor.  xii.  1-9)  to  which  he  afterwards  alluded.  Wo 
may,  in  short,  believe  that  during  this  period  Paul 
was  finally  prepared,  mentally  and  spiritually,  for  the 
still  greater  service  which  lay  before  him. 


IV 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

98.  While  Christianity  was  expanding  in  the  re- 
gions beyond  Judea,  the  church  in  Jerusalem  gradually 
recovered  from  the  blow  of  persecution.  We  cannot 
say  how  long  the  persecution  lasted.  The  first  notice 
of  its  cessation  is  in  Acts  ix.  31,  but  it  is  impossible  to 
date  that  statement  with  precision.  We  may  believe 
that  the  fury  of  the  persecution  lasted  but  a  year  or 
two,  and  that  with  the  conversion  of  Paul  it  lost  its 
chief  instigator. 

99.  Its  cessation  was  followed  by  a  renewed  growth 
of  the  Christian  community.  The  disciples  again  ap- 
pear carrying  on  their  work  in  public.  Peter  is  repre- 
sented as  preaching  in  towns  of  Syria  (ix.  32-42)  and, 
on  his  return,  meeting  the  assembled  church  in  Jeru- 
salem (xi.  2).  Some  years  later  the  disciples  formed  a 
sufficiently  large  and  well-known  element  of  the  popu- 
lation to  cause  Herod  Agrippa  I.  to  seek  to  please  the 
Jews  by  renewing  persecution. 

100.  The  hostility  of  the  authorities  and  the  spread 
of  the  faith  had,  however,  the  effect  of  separating  the 
disciples  from  the  synagogues  and  leading  them  to 
form  a  complete  organization  of  their  own.  They 
were  indeed  still  loyal  to  the  temple  and  the  law.  The 
charge  which  had  been  brought  against  Stephen  (Acts 
vi.  13)  did  not  represent  a  change  in  the  attitude  of 


92  EARLY   EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

the  disciples  as  a  body  to  the  national  worship.  But 
separation  from  the  synagogues  had  in  many  cases 
been  forced  upon  them ;  and  even  though  this  may 
not  have  been  always  the  case,  the  necessity  for  the 
further  organization  of  their  own  community  had  be- 
come apparent.  We  have  already  noted  this  separa- 
tion among  the  disciples  in  the  dispersion  (sect.  70). 
We  now  find  it  in  Judea.  Mention  is  made  of  "  the 
elders"  (Acts  xi.  30)  of  Jerusalem,  —  a  phrase  which 
implies  that  the  disciples  of  the  capital  were  organized 
into  a  religious  society,  perhaps  into  several,  modelled 
after  the  synagogue.  The  same  was  true  of  those  in 
other  towns  of  Judea  (Gal.  i.  20).  The  name  "  syna- 
gogue" was  retained  for  the  Christian  assembly  (Jas. 
ii.  2),  but  at  the  same  time  the  term  cedes ia  was  also 
used  to  denote  the  society  itself  (Jas.  v.  14 ;  Schilrer, 
HJP.  II.  ii.  58,  note  48).  The  latter  term  was  already 
familiar,  as  a  designation  of  the  congregation  of  Israel, 
through  its  use  in  the  Septuagint  (comp.  Acts  vii.  38). 
It  or  its  Aramaic  equivalent  had  been  used  by  Jesus 
himself  to  denote  the  company  of  his  disciples  (Matt.  xvi. 
18;  xviii.  17).  Its  meaning,  too,  —  a  body  called  out, 
—  doubtless  contributed  to  its  use  by  suggesting  the 
divine  call  to  which  believers  had  responded ;  while 
the  advantage  of  having  a  distinct  name  for  the  new 
society  was  obvious.  Eeclesia  became  eventually  the 
regular  term  used  among  the  Christians,  except  by  a 
few  ultra  Jewish-Christian  sects,  and  is  employed  by 
Luke  to  denote  the  body  of  disciples  from  the  begin- 
ning (Acts  V.  11,  etc.).  Yet  the  new  organization  was 
simply  the  transfer  of  Jewish  forms  to  the  new  society. 
As  we  have  seen  that  before  the  persecution  practical 
necessity  led  to  the  erection  of  the  eleemosynary  office 


THE  OFFICE  OF  ELDER  93 

of  "  the  seven,"  and  as  thus  the  inherent  power  of 
the  community  to  organize  itself  was  exhibited,  so 
now  the  time  had  come  when  complete  organiza- 
tion was  required  for  the  independent  welfare  of  the 
church. 

101.  Thus  must  be  explained  the  origin  of  the  Chris- 
tian office  of  elder.  No  specific  account  of  its  institu- 
tion is  given.  We  simply  find  it  existing ;  but  there 
can  be  no  question  that  it  was  copied  from  the  office  of 
the  same  name  among  the  Jews.  In  each  Jewish  com- 
munity the  elders  were  the  governing  body.  The  time 
had  doubtless  passed  when  only  old  men  filled  the 
office,  and  the  elders  were  chosen  from  the  most  in- 
fluential. Originally  they  possessed  both  civil  and  reli- 
gious authority ;  but  oftener,  in  the  time  of  which  we 
are  treating,  their  authority  pertained  chiefly  to  reli- 
gious matters,  except  in  those  foreign  cities  where 
civil  jurisdiction  was  granted  by  the  government  to  the 
rulers  of  the  Jewish  colonies.  The  Jewish  elders  were 
thus  the  representatives  and  rulers  of  the  congregation 
which  assembled  in  the  synagogue.  They  exercised 
discipline,  even  to  excommunication,  and  managed  in 
general  the  affairs  of  the  synagogue.  There  were  also 
other  officers  particularly  charged  with  the  house  of 
meeting ;  such  as  "  the  ruler  (or  rulers)  of  the  syna- 
gogue" who  provided  for  the  actual  conduct  of  wor- 
ship by  securing  readers  and  speakers ;  "  the  minister  " 
(Chazzan),  who  cared  for  the  sacred  writings  and  per- 
formed other  duties  under  the  direction  of  his  superiors; 
and  the  receivers  of  alms,  who,  however,  were  not 
strictly  officers  of  the  synagogue  (Schiirer,  HJP.  II.  ii. 
sect.  27).  But  the  eldership  constituted  the  chief  syna- 
gogal  authority.     Where  more  than  one  synagogue  ex- 


94  p:arly  ExrANSiON  of  Christianity 

isted  in  a  place,  all  the  elders  seemed  to  have  formed 
one  body  governing  the  entire  community.  Finally, 
the  great  Sanhedrim  in  Jerusalem,  consisting  of 
seventy-one  members,  besides  being  the  governing  body 
of  Judea,  was  the  supreme  court  of  the  Jewish  church 
and  world. 

102.  When,  then,  we  find  the  disciples  organized 
under  elders,  the  origin  and  character  of  the  arrange- 
ment is  evident.  The  eldership  was  not  primarily  a 
teaching  office.  Its  functions  were  chiefly  disciplinary 
and  executive.  As  in  the  synagogue  any  one  was  at 
liberty  to  read  or  speak,  so  in  the  early  churches  there 
was  freedom  of  utterance,  and  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit 
supplied  the  needs  of  the  worshippers  (comp.  I.  Cor. 
xiv,  26),  The  elders,  however,  presided.  They  could 
teach  if  they  wished,  and  the  superintendence  of  the 
instructions,  as  well  as  of  the  order,  of  the  congrega- 
tion was  in  their  hands.  Of  course  they  possessed  no 
priestly  functions.  As  the  synagogue  was  distinct 
from  the  temple,  so  the  object  of  its  service  was  in- 
struction, not  sacrifice ;  and  those  who  ruled  in  either 
synagogue  or  church  had  none  of  the  functions  of  those 
who  officiated  at  the  altar.  In  conformity  with  the 
synagogal  origin  of  the  oflice,  we  find  Christian  elders 
first  mentioned  as  receiving  the  gifts  from  Antioch  for 
distribution  among  the  poor  (Acts  xi.  30)  ;  as  ap- 
pointed by  Paul  and  Barnabas  over  the  new  churches 
in  Asia  Minor  (xiv.  23)  ;  and  as  uniting  with  the 
apostles  in  the  council  at  Jerusalem  (xv.  6,  22,  23). 
It  is  probable  tliat  in  Judea,  as  elsewhere  (Acts  xiv. 
23  ;  XX.  17),  in  each  locality  where  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  disciples  existed,  elders  were  chosen  who  gov- 
erned  the    entire    body   of    believers   in    that    place. 


DELOCALIZATION  OF  THE  APOSTOLATE     95 

Certainly  in  Jerusalem,  where  there  were  many  dis- 
ciples and  doubtless  many  places  of  meeting,  there 
was  one  body  of  elders  ruling  over  all  (xi.  30;  xv.  6). 
Whether  any  other  features  of  the  synagogue  were 
taken  over,  wc  do  not  know  ;  but  by  the  establishment 
of  the  Christian  eldership,  two  facts  are  made  clear ; 
namely,  that  the  separation  from  Judaism  had  become 
decided,  and  tliat  the  primitive  conception  of  the  church 
was  not  based  on  the  temple,  but  on  the  synagogue, 
where  the  congregation  met  for  instruction,  praise,  and 
prayer. 

103.  The  rise  of  organized  churches  seems  also  to 
have  modified  gradually  tlie  work  performed  by  the 
apostles.  At  first  they  had  been  the  sole  officials. 
With  the  appointment  of  "  the  seven,"  they  were  re- 
lieved of  the  care  of  the  poor,  that  they  might  attend 
undividedly  to  teaching.  With  the  establishment  of 
the  eldersliip,  their  work  was  further  modified.  No 
doubt  it  was  they  who  directed  the  organization  into 
churches  on  the  same  practical  principles  which  appear 
in  the  institution  of  "  the  seven."  They  still  contin- 
ued to  be  the  recognized  authorities  in  matters  of  belief 
(e.  (/.  I.  Cor.  ix.  1 ;  xii.  23  ;  11.  Cor.  xii.  13  ;  Eph.  ii.  20 ; 
iv.  11 ;  Jude  17) ;  but  they  now  appear  more  and  more 
to  have  directed  their  efforts  to  the  superintendence 
and  advancement  of  the  cause  at  large.  So  Peter's 
activity,  quite  early  in  this  period,  is  expressly  de- 
scribed (Acts  ix.  32).  So  too  had  Paul,  as  we  have 
seen,  been  sent  forth  to  Cilicia.  From  this  time  Ave 
hear  no  more  of  most  of  the  original  apostles.  We 
cannot  doubt  that  they  went  abroad,  as  tradition 
affirms  (Eus.  HE.  III.  1),  as  missionaries  and  founders 
of  new  churches,  and  that  to  them,  as  well  as  to  other 


96  EARLY   EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY 

laborers,  the  spread  of  Christianity  was  due.  Jerusa- 
lem indeed  continued  for  many  years  to  be  the  head- 
quarters of  the  faith,  and  to  it  they  may  have  returned 
like  Paul  himself  from  time  to  time.  But  the  progress 
and  organization  of  the  Judean  churches  appears  to 
have  delocalized  the  apostolate  and  made  it  a  travelling 
and  scattered  body,  delivering  in  wider  circles  the 
gospel  of  the  risen  Lord  (comp.  I.  Cor,  ix.  5). 

104.  One  event  during  this  period  illustrates  partic- 
ularly how  the  mother  church  was  prepared  to  appre- 
ciate the  expansion  of  the  faith  that  was  beginning 
(Acts  X.).  Cornelius,  a  Roman  centurion  of  the  Italian 
cohort,  located  at  Caesarea,  belonged  to  the  numerous 
class  of  devout  foreigners  who  had  come  under  the 
influence  of  Judaism.  He  worshipped  Jehovah  and 
was  constant  in  alms  and  prayers.  This  man  was 
directed  in  a  vision  to  send  for  Peter,  who  was  so- 
journing in  Joppa,  that  he  might  learn  the  will  of  the 
Lord  more  perfectly.  The  apostle  was  also  given  a 
significant  vision.  While  waiting  at  noon  on  the  house- 
top for  food  to  be  prepared,  he  beheld  in  an  ecstasy  a 
sheet  let  down  from  heaven,  filled  with  beasts,  creeping 
things,  and  fowls,  and  he  heard  a  voice  saying,  "  Rise, 
Peter,  kill  and  eat."  When  he  protested  that  he  had 
never  eaten  unclean  food,  the  voice  replied,  "  What 
God  hath  cleansed,  make  not  thou  common  "  (Acts  x. 
15,  R.  v.).  A  second  and  a  third  time  the  vision  was 
repeated,  and  while  Peter  pondered  on  its  meaning  the 
messengers  from  Cornelius  arrived.  The  Spirit  bade 
him  go  with  them,  and  Peter  realized  that  the  vision 
and  the  summons  were  divinely  connected.  Probably 
ho  had  never  before  doubted  the  binding  force  of 
Jewish  ordinances ;  but  he  knew  now  that  he  must 


CONVERSION  OF  CORNELIUS  97 

not  limit  his  mission  by  them.  Wlien,  then,he  reached 
the  house  of  Cornelius  and  heard  the  cause  of  the 
summons,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  preach  Jesus  to  the 
Gentiles  who  were  present  and  to  offer  them  salvation 
on  condition  of  faith  alone  (x.  43).  At  once  the  Spirit 
fell  upon  the  company,  to  the  astonishment  of  the 
Jewish  Christians  who  accompanied  the  apostle.  That 
signified  God's  acceptance  of  uncircumcised  believers. 
Peter  recognized  the  divine  will  and  without  more 
delay  baptized  the  new  disciples.  He  even  continued 
to  live  with  them,  in  disregard  of  Jewish  regulations, 
for  certain  days. 

105.  This  incident  was  felt  to  be  revolutionary.  The 
news  spread  to  Jerusalem,  and  while  the  conversion  of 
Gentiles  could  not  but  cause  joy,  the  conduct  of  Peter 
in  living  and  eating  with  them  offended  the  brethren. 
When  he  returned,  they  took  him  to  task  for  it.  He 
replied  by  rehearsing  the  facts,  closing  with  the  un- 
answerable question,  "  What  was  I  that  I  could  with- 
stand God?"  (Acts  xi.  1-17).  He  evidently  felt  that 
since  God  had  accepted  Gentile  believers  without  cir- 
cumcision, he  dared  not  refuse  to  recognize  them  as 
brethren  in  the  Lord  even  at  the  cost  of  the  violation 
of  ceremonial  customs ;  and  if  he  reflected  on  the 
words,  "  What  God  hath  cleansed,  make  not  thou 
common,"  he  could  hardly  have  failed  to  perceive  that 
he  was  meant  to  understand  that  the  work  of  Jesus 
consisted  in  the  cleansing  from  all  sin ;  and  that  on 
this  basis  the  whole  Mosaic  ritual,  its  purpose  having 
been  accomplished,  was  no  longer  necessary.  Whether 
he  perceived  this  at  the  time  or  not,  it  was  made  clear 
to  him  that  God  did  not  intend  the  ritual  law  to  be 
imposed  on  Gentiles. 


98  EARLY   EXPANSION   OF  CHRISTIANITY 

106.  This  incident  shows  that  the  rehition  of  Gen- 
tile believers,  and  ultimately  of  all  believers,  to  Juda- 
ism was  a  subject  on  which,  as  Christianity  expanded, 
there  was  certain  to  be  difference  of  opinion.  Hitherto 
it  had  been  generally  assumed  that  Gentile  converts 
would  observe  the  law ;  while  as  to  the  duty  of  Jews 
there  was  no  doubt.  Peter  himself  ventured  to  trans- 
gress the  ordinances  only  after  explicit  direction  from 
the  Lord  ;  and  all  that  we  know  of  the  early  Jewish 
believers  makes  it  certain  that  nothing  but  belief  in  a 
revelation  to  that  effect  could  have  led  the  apostle  so 
to  act.  Hence  the  incident  was  remembered  in  after 
times  as  a  demonstration  of  what  the  will  of  the  Lord 
was.  Its  effect  on  Peter  can  be  seen  in  his  whole  sub- 
sequent career.  He  ever  afterwards  maintained  the 
freedom  of  Gentiles  from  the  law  (Acts  xv.  7-11  ; 
Gal.  ii.  7,  8),  and,  though  he  was  the  apostle  of  the 
circumcision,  we  find  liim  in  Antioch  living  freely  with 
them  (Gal.  ii.  12).  The  church  in  Jerusalem  also  re- 
cognized that  at  least  God  had  granted  to  the  Gentiles 
repentance  unto  life  (Acts  xi.  18),  though  their  dis- 
approval of  Peter's  conduct  may  not  have  wholly 
ceased,  and  though  all  may  not  have  been  ready  to 
apply  the  principle  involved.  This  is  not  inconsistent 
with  the  rise  afterward,  when  the  number  of  uncircum- 
cised  believers  had  increased,  of  a  party  who  insisted 
on  the  necessity  of  circumcision.  The  manifest  work 
of  God  silenced  the  voice  of  prejudice  ;  and,  as  the  in- 
cident became  more  significant  in  the  light  of  later 
controversy,  so  at  the  time  it  indicated  the  larger  field 
on  which  the  faith  was  entering. 

107.  Thus  Christianity  advanced  in  Judea  after  the 
cessation  of   the  first   persecution.     It  was  recruited 


PERSECUTION   BY   HEROD   AGKIPPA   I.  99 

chiefly,  as  the  poverty  of  the  disciples  seems  to  prove 
(Gal.  ii.  10),  from  the  humbler  classes.  Not  a  few, 
however,  of  the  Pharisees  joined  them  (Acts  xv.  5) ; 
for  the  loyalty  of  the  disciples  to  the  law  was  un- 
questionable. In  many  respects  the  movement  still 
appeared  a  spiritual  revival  of  Judaism  and  appealed 
powerfully  to  the  religious  aspirations  of  the  best  of 
the  people.  And  this  condition  of  affairs  was  hardly 
interrupted  by  the  brief  revival  of  persecution  by  Herod 
Agrippa  I.  (Acts  xii.).  That  prince,  the  grandson  of 
Herod  the  Great  and  brother  of  Plerodias  who  married 
Herod  Antipas,  after  a  checkered  career  in  Rome  and 
the  East,  had  been  given  by  his  friend  Gains  Caligula, 
on  the  latter's  accession  to  the  empire  in  a.  d.  37,  the 
tetrarchies  of  Iturea,  Trachonitis,  and  Abilene  with  the 
title  of  king  ;  and  to  these  were  added,  in  a.  d.  40,  Gal- 
ilee and  Perea,  which  had  formerly  been  governed  by 
Herod  Antipas.  Claudius,  in  a.  d.  41,  confirmed  this 
grant  and  added  to  it  Judea  and  Samaria,  which  since 
the  death  of  Archelaus  had  been  ruled  by  procurators. 
Herod  Agrippa  was  thus  king  of  the  Jews  and  governed 
the  same  territory  as  his  famous  grandfather.  His 
reign  lasted  but  three  years.(e>7bs.  Antiq.  xix.  8.  2).  He 
was  popular  with  the  Jews  and,  when  in  Judea,  obser- 
vant of  their  customs.  It  was  quite  in  accord  with 
what  we  know  of  his  character  that  to  please  the  Jews 
he  instituted  persecution  against  the  new  sect.  This 
was  in  a.  d.  44,  the  year  of  Herod's  death.  James,  the 
son  of  Zebedee,  was  slain  with  the  sword.  Only  a 
divine  interposition  saved  Peter,  wlio,  after  sending 
word  of  his  escape  to  James,  the  Lord's  brother,  and 
to  the  other  leaders,  fled  from  the  city.  No  mention, 
however,  is  made  of  other  seizures  by  Herod.     Peter's 


100  EARLY   EXPANSION   OF  CHRISTIANITY 

language  (xii.  17)  has  been  thought  to  imply  that  the 
other  apostles  had  also  left  the  city  ;  and,  even  apart 
from  the  danger  which  threatened  them,  this  may  have 
been  the  case.  But  the  trouble  appears  to  have  soon 
blown  over.  Herod  died  in  the  summer  of  that  year 
in  Caesarea  under  strangely  dramatic  circumstances, 
which  are  described  independently,  but  with  agreement 
as  to  the  main  facts,  by  Josephus  (Antiq.  xix.  8.  2)  and 
Luke  (xii.  20-23).  The  only  significance  of  the  perse- 
cution was  its  indication  of  the  determined  rejection  of 
Christianity  by  the  Jewish  state  as  well  as  by  the  Jew- 
ish church.  However  loyal  to  Judaism  the  disciples 
might  be,  they  could  not  but  realize  that  the  separa- 
tion between  them  and  the  existing  authorities  was 
complete. 


RISE  OF   GENTILE  CHRISTIANITY   IN  ANTIOCH 

108.  It  was  probably  a  year  or  two  before  the  Hero- 
diaii  persecution  that  the  attention  of  the  church  in 
Jerusalem  was  called  to  the  progress  of  the  faith  in 
Syrian  Antioch.  The  events  which  had  occurred  there 
were,  in  fact,  the  opening  of  a  new  chapter  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  religion  of  Jesus.  In  narrating  them  we 
must  go  back  to  the  dispersion  which  followed  the 
death  of  Stephen. 

109.  Some  of  the  refugees  fled  northward  to  Phoe- 
nicia and  the  island  of  Cyprus,  which  lay  about  fifty 
miles  off  the  Phojnician  coast,  and  came  finally  to  the 
great  metropolis  of  Syria,  Antioch  on  the  Orontes.  Like 
the  other  refugees,  they  preached  as  they  journeyed, 
but  to  Jews  only.  Some  of  them,  Jews  from  Cyprus 
and  Cyrcnc,  and  therefore  perhaps  less  narrowed  than 
others  by  Jewish  prejudices,  began  preaching  in  Anti- 
och to  Gentiles.^  This  met  with  much  success.  A 
community  of  believers  arose  in  the  Syrian  metropolis 
composed  mainly  of  uncircumcised  foreigners  with 
whom  the  Jewish  disciples  lived  on  terms  of  equality. 
The  incident  shows  that,  quite  independently  of  the 

1  Wliethcr''EA\7)»'as  or  'EWrjviffTcis  he  the  right  reading  in  Acts  xi. 
20,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  work  was  among  the  non-Jewish 
population. 


102  EARLY  EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY 

divine  preparation  of  Paul,  and  of  the  mother  church 
for  work  among  the  Gentiles,  there  was  in  some  quar- 
ters a  tendency  in  the  same  direction  traceable  to  the 
spirit  of  the  faith  itself.  It  was,  in  fact,  the  inev- 
itable issue  of  the  offer  of  salvation  by  faith  which  had 
been  proclaimed  from  the  beginning,  and  of  the  widen- 
ing sympathies  engendered  by  the  expansion. 

110.  The  rise  of  Gentile  Christianity  in  Antioch  was, 
however,  specially  momentous  because  of  the  character 
and  position  of  that  city.  The  Antiochan  church  was 
fitted  to  be  a  new  centre  for  the  diffusion  of  the  faith. 
From  it  the  message  about  Jesus,  separated  from  Jewish 
complications,  could  best  issue  into  the  empire.  The 
third  city  of  the  empire,  outranked  in  size  only  by 
Rome  and  Alexandria,  crowded  with  a  mixed  popula- 
tion and  connected  commercially  with  both  East  and 
West,  Antioch  was  the  most  important  place  for  the 
faith,  advancing  from  Jerusalem,  to  occupy.  Fi'om  it 
the  new  religion  would  be  carried  by  report  in  every 
direction.  It  lay  just  beyond  the  confines  of  Palestine, 
and  thus  was  not  so  far  from  the  original  centre  as  to 
lose  touch  with  the  mother  church.  At  the  same  time 
it  was  the  door  from  Palestine  to  the  Grseco-Roman 
world.  No  place  was  so  well  suited  to  be  a  base  of 
operations  for  the  progress  of  Christianity  into  the 
empire.  It  was  surely  not  accidental  that  these  un- 
known refugees  were  led  to  begin  their  quiet  but 
portentous  mission  in  Antioch. 

111.  We  cannot  say  how  soon  after  Stephen's  death 
this  work  began,  nor  how  long  it  continued  before  at- 
tracting the  attention  of  the  church  in  Jerusalem. 
The  report,  however,  evidently  reached  the  latter  shortly 
before  the  Herodian  persecution.     Forthwith  Barnabas 


MISSION  OF   BARNABAS   TO   ANTIOCII  103 

was  sent  to  examine  into  it.  The  Jerusalem  church 
thus  assumed  authority  over  the  churches  founded  by 
the  refugees.  The  desire  for  examination  into  the  re- 
port implies  likewise  a  sense  of  its  novelty  and  of  its 
doubtful  character  from  the  strict  Jewish  point  of  view. 
Yet  the  selection  of  Barnabas  indicates  the  absence  of 
hostility  to  the  new  movement.  Being  himself  a 
Cypriote,  he  was  naturally  chosen  to  investigate  a  work 
which  had  in  part  originated  with  his  fellow-country- 
men. He  was  also  a  man  of  liberal  mind  and  hospi- 
table to  new  developments  of  the  cause,  as  had  been 
shown  by  his  reception  of  the  converted  Paul.  At  the 
same  time  he  was  of  high  repute  among  the  brethren  in 
Jerusalem.  He  was  thus  fitted  to  appreciate  the  new 
movement,  if  it  was  a  genuine  work  of  the  Spirit  of 
Jesus,  and  to  mediate,  if  necessary,  between  it  and 
the  older  church.  His  mission  illustrates,  therefore, 
the  joy  of  the  mother  church  over  the  expansion  of  the 
faith,  her  willingness  to  recognize  it  if  genuine,  and 
yet  no  doubt  the  reluctance  of  most  of  the  brethren 
in  Jerusalem  to  go  themselves  directly  to  the  Gentiles. 
That  none  of  the  apostles  was  sent  may  have  been  due 
to  their  absence  ;  or  to  the  feeling  that,  for  the  reasons 
stated,  Barnabas  was  best  qualified  to  appreciate  the 
situation  ;  or  possibly  because,  this  being  the  action, 
not  of  the  apostles,  but  of  the  church  (Acts  xi.  22)  one 
of  the  local  officials,  such  as  Barnabas  doubtless  was, 
was  deemed  the  appropriate  representative. 

112.  The  choice  certainly  proved  a  wise  one.  Bar- 
nabas recognized  the  genuinely  Christian  character  of 
the  Gentile  converts.  With  much  largemindedness  he 
made  no  attempt  to  exact  conformity  to  the  Jewish 
law.     Nay,  more.     He  departed  at  once  to  Tarsus  and 


104  EAKLY   EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

brought  Paul  from  thence  to  Antioch,  and  the  two 
men  labored  together  for  a  year  in  the  new  sphere 
with  greater  results  than  before  (Acts  xi.  25-26}. 
All  this  is  very  signihcant.  It  seems  probable  that 
Barnabas  was  acquainted  with  Paul's  commission  to 
the  Gentiles ;  that  he  sympathized  with  it ;  and  that 
he  saw  in  Antioch  the  divinely  prepared  opportunity 
for  it.  It  is  clear  too  that  neither  of  them  thought  for 
a  moment  that  Gentile  believers  would  be  bound  by 
the  Jewish  laws.  That  demand  had  not  yet  been  raised 
within  the  church.  Thus  the  first  Gentile  church 
known  to  history  was  established  in  harmonious  rela- 
tions with  the  mother  church ;  and  in  this  new  field 
Barnabas  and  Paul  began  the  work  of  expansion  out- 
side of  the  limits  of  Judaism,  which  they  were  to  carry 
on,  together  or  separately,  for  many  years. 

118.  Two  other  interesting  facts  are  noted  by  Luke 
in  connection  with  the  young  churcli  at  Antioch  (Acts 
xi.  26-30).  One  is  that  here  the  name  "Christian" 
was  first  applied  to  the  followers  of  Jesus.  It  must 
have  originated  with  the  Gentiles,  for  obviously  the 
Jews  would  not  have  given  it  to  them.  It  implies  also 
that  they  were  no  longer  considered  a  Jewish  sect,  for 
the  term  distinguishes  them  from  the  Jews.  The 
disciples  had  called  themselves  "  believers  "  (Acts  xi. 
24;  comp.  I.  Thess.  i.  7  ;  II.  Thess.  i.  10),  or  "breth- 
ren" (Acts  i.  15;  ix.  30;  x.  23),  or  "those  of  the 
Way"  (Acts  ix.  2;  comp.  xix.  9;  xxii.  4),  or  simply 
"  disciples "  (Acts  vi.  1,  2,  7  ;  ix.  10,  19,  26,  etc.). 
Yet  the  title  "  Christian,"  while  given  them  by  others, 
would  naturally  be  a  welcome  one,  and  this  the  more 
as  their  own  consciousness  of  separation  from  Judaism 
advanced.     There  was  nothing  necessarily  derisive  in 


ClllUSTlAN  riioniETS  105 

it.  It  speedily  became  their  common  title  among  the 
Gentiles.  The  Jews  indeed  still  called  them  Naza- 
renes  (Acts  xxiv.  5).  Yet  even  Agrippa  (Acts  xxvi. 
28)  used  the  term  "Christian,"  doubtless  because  of 
his  acquaintance  with  its  use  elsewhere.  Tacitus  tes- 
tilies  that  before  Nero's  persecution  this  was  their 
common  name  in  Rome  (Annales  xv.  44)  ;  Peter  (I. 
Pet.  iv.  16)  intimates  that  the  appellation  was  current 
in  Asia  Minor.  The  term  moreover  is  not  of  Latin 
but  of  Greek  origin.  Denominatives  of  this  form  were 
frequent  among  the  Greeks,  especially  among  the 
Greek-speaking  population  of  the  East  QLij)sius,  Uber 
den  Ursprung  und  friiheren  Gebrauch  des  Christenna- 
mens).  The  title  thus  naturally  originated  in  Antioch 
under  the  circumstances  which  Luke  describes,  and 
marks  the  first  appearance  of  the  faith  among  the 
Gentiles  as  a  non-Judaic  religion. 

114.  The  other  fact  noted  by  Luke  is  that 
"  prophets "  from  Jerusalem  came  to  Antioch.  This 
remark  introduces  us  to  a  class  of  persons  of  whom 
frequent  mention  is  made  in  apostolic  literature  (Acts 
xiii.  1;  XV.  32;  xxi.  10;  L  Cor.  xii.  28,  29  ;  xiv.  29, 
32,  37  ;  Eph.  ii.  20  ;  iii.  5 ;  iv.  11  ;  Rev.  x.  7 ;  xi.  18 ; 
xvi.  6  ;  xviii.  20,  24  ;  xxii.  6,  9).  The  prophet  Avas 
not  an  ordinary  church  official.  Any  one,  from  an 
apostle  (I.  Cor.  xiii,  2 ;  xiv.  6 ;  Rev.  i.  3)  to  a  private 
member  (Acts  xxi.  9  ;  L  Cor.  xii.  10  ;  Rom.  xii.  6 ; 
L  Cor.  xiv.  29),  might  possess  the  gift.  Prophecy 
was  the  chief  of  those  endowments  which  the  Spirit 
after  Pentecost  bestowed  upon  the  church  as  the  seal 
of  the  Lord's  triumph  and  the  earnest  of  his  people's 
salvation.  The  New  Testament  conception  of  a 
l)rophct  is  precisely  that  of  the  Old  Testament.     lie 


106  EARLY   EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY 

was  one  whom  God  made  the  organ  for  the  com- 
munication of  truth  to  the  church,  —  one  who  spoke 
directly  from  God  and  whose  words  were  the  words  of 
God.  The  gift  might  be  temporary  or  permanent. 
It  might  operate  with  or  without  the  use  of  rational 
means  for  the  acquisition  of  truth  by  the  prophet. 
The  truth  communicated  might  be  didactic  or  predic- 
tive or  even  historical  (comp.  I.  Cor.  xi.  23).  The 
existence  therefore  of  prophets  in  the  apostolic  church 
testifies  to  the  belief  that  it  was  an  age  of  revelation. 
Besides  having  tlie  historic  teaching  of  Jesus,  the  dis- 
ciples believed  that  God  was  continually  communicat- 
ing truth  to  them.  This  prophetic  ministry  belonged 
to  the  apostles,  but,  as  has  been  said,  was  not  confined 
to  them,  so  that  "  on  the  foundation  of  the  apostles 
and  prophets  "  was  the  church  held  to  be  established 
(Eph.  ii.  20).  With  other  gifts  of  the  Spirit,  it  made 
the  worship  of  the  disciples  partake  largely  of  the 
character  of  a  Spirit-led  and  voluntary  service.  It 
thus  checked  for  a  time  the  development  of  official 
teachers  in  the  congregation.  We  shall  find  later  the 
value  of  regular,  official  teachers  emphasized  (I.  Cor. 
X.  28  ;  Eph.  iv.  11 ;  I.  Tim.  v.  17  ;  II.  Tim.  ii.  2),  and 
from  the  beginning  the  instruction  of  converts  was 
never  wanting  (Acts  ii.  42;  I.  Thess.  v.  12;  Gal.  vi. 
6 ;  I.  Cor,  xii.  28  ;  Rom.  xii.  7).  The  utterances  of 
prophecy  were  moreover  to  be  tested  by  the  teaching 
already  given  by  the  apostles  (II.  Thess.  iii.  6, 14 ;  I, 
Cor.  xiv.  37  ;  I.  Johniv.  2,  6).  But  the  prophets  were 
the  living  evidence  of  the  continuance  of  the  prophetic 
office  of  Messiah  by  whose  Spirit  they  spake.  The 
beliefs  of  the  disciples,  resting  on  this  basis,  were 
therefore    to    them     authoritative    revelations.     This 


THE   PREDICTION   OF  THE   FAMINE  107 

belief  in  living  prophecy,  united  with  belief  in  apostolic 
authority,  crcuted  among  the  Christians  the  convic- 
tion that  a  now  revelation  was  being  made  to  them 
in  addition  to,  thougli  including,  the  teaching  and 
work  of  Jesus,  and  linally  laid  the  ground  for  a  belief 
in  an  inspired  Christian  literature,  corresponding  to 
the  Old  Testament,  which  we  find  expressed  in  the 
apostolic  age  itself  (e.  g.  11.  Thess.  ii,  2 ;  iii.  14 ; 
I.  Cor.  xiv.  27  ;  II.  Pet.  iii.  1,  2,  16;  I.  John  i.  3,  4; 
Rev.  i.  3,  11 ;  xxii.  18,  19).  In  the  "  Teaching  of  the 
Apostles"  (ab.  a.  d.  100)  we  still  read  of  prophets  as 
itinerant  preachers  ;  and  we  shall  not  appreciate  prop- 
erly the  consciousness  of  the  apostolic  Christians,  if 
we  omit  their  faith  in  a  present  revelation  which  was 
being  communicated  to  them  by  inspired  men. 

115.  Luke's  reference  to  the  prophets  who  came 
from  Jerusalem  to  Antioch  indicates  the  cordial  re- 
lations which  existed  between  the  old  and  the  new 
communities.  This  soon  found  further  expression. 
One  of  the  prophets,  Agabus  by  name,  doubtless  in 
one  of  the  public  services  of  the  church,  predicted  that 
a  great  famine  was  about  to  come  on  the  whole  empire 
(Acts  xi.  28).  Probably  this  prediction  formed  part  of 
an  inspired  descri])tion  of  the  woes  which  would  fall 
on  the  world  and  especially  on  the  Jews  before  Mes- 
siah's return  (comp.  Matt.  xxiv.  7 ;  Rev.  vi.  5,  6).  At 
any  rate,  the  prediction  of  a  famine  was  specific. 
Luke  notes  that  this  happened  during  the  reign  of 
Claudius.  That  this  was  so  in  Judea  is  confirmed  by 
Josephus  (Antiq.  xx.  2.  5  and  5. 2)  who  calls  it  the  "  great 
famine."  He  locates  it  during  the  procuratorships  of 
Fadus  (a.  d.  44-46)  and  Tiberius  Alexander  (a.  d.  46- 
48  ?).     We  know  also  of  other  famines  under  Claudius 


108  EARLY   EXPANSION   OE   CHKISTIANITY 

(^Dio  Cass.  Ix.  11;  Tac.  Ann.  xii.  43;  Suet.  Claud.  18). 
Two  of  these  were  felt  at  Rome,  which  implies  that 
they  raged  in  the  provinces  whence  the  food-supply 
of  the  capital  was  drawn.  Eusebius  (Chron.  i.  79) 
also  refers  to  one  in  Greece.  Luke's  remark  therefore 
is  quite  justified ;  but  the  important  fact  is  the  action 
taken  by  the  Antiochan  Christians.  They  expected,  as 
probably  Agabus  had  declared,  that  the  famine  would 
come  soon ;  so  they  began  at  once  to  raise  a  fund  for 
the  relief  of  the  brethren  in  Judea  (Acts  xi.  29).  This 
implies  that  most  of  the  Judean  disciples  were  known 
to  be  poor  (comp.  Gal.  ii.  10)  and  also  that  the  An- 
tiochans  recognized  their  special  obligation  to  the 
mother  church.  The  two  churches  were  thus  united 
in  love  and  mutual  helpfulness;  and  the  two  men  to 
whose  labors  the  church  at  Antioch  owed  the  most, 
were  chosen  as  the  bearers  of  their  gift.  The  aid  was 
carried  to  the  elders  of  Jerusalem  by  Barnabas  and 
Paul  (Acts  xi.  30). 

>r  116.  This  mission  of  Barnabas  and  Paul  has,  how- 
ever, occasioned  difficulty  because  of  the  fact  that  Paul 
does  not  mention  it  in  the  first  chapter  of  Galatians. 
It  is  thought  by  many  that  his  argument  required  him 
to  mention  every  visit  he  had  made  to  Jerusalem  since 
his  conversion.  Hence  Luke's  account  in  this  place 
has  been  deemed  unhistorical.  Others  have  sought  to 
identify  this  visit  with  that  described  in  Gal.  ii.  1-10, 
when  also  Barnabas  accompanied  Paul  (^Ramsay,  St. 
Paul  the  Trav.  p.  55).  But  to  the  latter  view  there 
are  insuperable  objections.  The  visit  of  Galatians  ii. 
had  for  its  chief  object  the  declaration  of  the  gospel 
which  Paul  preached  among  the  Gentiles  and  the 
determination  of   the  attitude   of   the  mother  church 


THE   VISIT   WITH  THE   GIFTS  109 

toward  Gentile  converts.  Paul's  language  implies  that 
the  recognition  of  uncircumcised  believers  was  then  a 
burning  question.  He  had  also  private  interviews  with 
James,  Peter,  and  John  on  the  subject  of  work  among 
the  Gentiles.  The  apostle's  object  is  to  point  out  that 
harmony  with  his  views  and  the  cordial  recognition  of 
his  mission  prevailed.  Only  incidentally  does  he  men- 
tion the  desire  of  the  leaders  of  the  Jerusalem  church 
that  he  should  remember  the  poor  (Gal.  ii.  10).  This 
account  does  not  correspond  at  all  with  the  cordial 
relations  which  we  have  found  existing  between  the 
churches  of  Jerusalem  and  Antioch  when  the  visit 
with  the  gifts  was  made,  nor  with  the  entire  absence 
of  the  question  of  circumcision  at  that  time.  The  re- 
quest that  he  should  remember  the  poor  is  also  much 
more  natural  if  on  a  previous  occasion  he  had  done  so, 
than  on  the  assumption  that  it  was  made  without  justi- 
fication in  his  former  life.  Still  further,  this  identifica- 
tion supposes  that  the  important  visit  recorded  in  Acts 
XV.  is  not  mentioned  at  all  in  the  epistle,  although 
it  had,  on  any  reasonable  view  of  the  date  of  the 
writing,  certainly  occurred.  We  must  conclude  there- 
fore that  Paul  does  not  mention  the  visit  with  the 
gifts.  This,  however,  need  not  throw  doubt  on  its 
occurrence.  His  argument  in  reality  required  him 
only  to  mention  those  occasions  on  which  he  had  met 
the  older  apostles  (comp.  Gal.  i.  16,  17).  It  is  worthy 
of  note  that  in  Acts  he  is  said  merely  to  have  been 
sent  to  the  elders  of  the  Jerusalem  church.  The  visit 
was  doubtless  brief,  for  the  gifts,  being  probably  in  the 
form  of  money,  were  soon  turned  over  to  the  elders. 
There  is  no  sufficient  reason  to  assume  that  Paul  and 
Barnabas  remained  to  distribute  them.     If  also  Acts 


110  EARLY   EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

xi.  30  and  xii.  24,  when  their  place  in  Luke's  narra- 
tive is  observed,  imply,  as  some  believe,  that  the  visit 
occurred  in  the  very  year  of  the  Herodian  perse- 
cution (a.  D.  44),  another  reason  is  suggested  for  its 
brevity  and  for  the  improbability  that  the  visitors  met 
any  of  the  apostles.  So  Paul  and  Barnabas  hastened 
back  to  their  field  of  labor.  Luke  only  adds,  in  an- 
ticipation of  his  further  narrative,  that  they  took  with 
them  to  Antioch  the  cousin  (Col.  iv.  10,  R.  V.)  of  Bar- 
nabas, John  whose  surname  was  Mark  (Acts  xii.  25). 


VI 

THE  jnSSIONAEY  JOUENEY  OF   PAUL  AND  BARNABAS 

117.  Antioch  soon  became  the  point  of  departure 
for  a  greater  expansion  of  the  faith  than  any  yet  known. 
This  originated  in  a  revelation  of  the  Spirit  made  to 
five  prophets  and  teachers  of  that  church  (Acts  xiii.  1, 
2).  Four  of  them,  Barnabas,  Simeon  Niger,  Lucius  of 
Cyrenc,  and  Paul,  were  Hellenistic  Jews.  The  fifth 
had  once  been  the  foster-brother  or  comrade  {JDeiss- 
mann,  Bibelstudien,  p.  178)  of  Herod  Antipas,  and  may 
have  been  a  Jo,'^  likewise.  The  point  to  be  noted  is 
that  they  belonged  to  the  circle  which  had  already 
taken  the  deepest  interest  in  the  expansion  of  the 
faith.  To  them,  as  they  worshipped,  the  Spirit  gave 
the  command,  "  Separate  me  Barnabas  and  Saul  to 
the  work  whereunto  I  have  called  them  ; "  and  forth- 
with the  two  missionaries  were  set  apart  by  the  laying 
on  of  hands  to  their  new  mission. 

118.  The  work  itself  was  undesignated,  but  there 
could  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  to  be  among  the  Gentiles. 
This,  of  course,  did  not  exclude  work  among  the  Jews. 
The  synagogues  were  the  first  places  in  which  the  mis- 
sionaries began  to  preach,  and  through  them,  indeed, 
they  could  best  reach  the  Gentiles.  But  the  work  was 
not  to  be  limited  to  Jews,  and  it  was  to  be  carried  on 
in  Gentile  lands.  No  explicit  program,  however,  was 
furnished.     The   messengers   of   Messiah  were   to   be 


112  EARLY  EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

guided  by  the  Spirit  and  by  Providence.  Nor  may 
they  at  first  have  appreciated  the  magnitude  of  their 
enterprise,  but  went  forth  in  obedience  to  the  divine 
command.  They  were  sent  also  by  the  church,  acting 
in  the  persons  of  the  three  remaining  prophets  and 
teachers  who  laid  their  hands  upon  the  brethren. 
This  did  not  make  Barnabas  and  Paul  apostles  of 
Christ  in  the  technical  sense  (Gal.  i.  1),  but  it  made 
them  apostles  of  the  church  (Acts  xiv.  4,  14).  Their 
mission  was  thus  both  a  divine  vocation  and  an  enter- 
prise of  the  Antiochan  church.  We  may  believe  also 
that  it  accorded  with  an  already  formed  wish  of  Barna- 
bas and  Paul.  It  was  very  opportune.  The  men  had 
been  prepared  for  the  work.  The  work  was  waiting 
for  the  men.  The  church  had  been  formed  which  was 
ready  to  support  the  missionaries,  and  it  lay  at  the 
gateway  of  the  Roman  world.  All  conspired  to  make 
the  mission  the  climax  of  the  progress  hitherto  attained 
and  to  open  the  way  for  further  expansion. 

119.  The  date  of  the  journey  can  only  be  approxi- 
mately assigned  to  the  period  between  a.  d.  44  and  50. 
Nor  are  there  any  clear  indications  of  the  time  con- 
sumed by  it.  Ramsay  estimates  its  length  at  two 
years  and  four  months  (Church  in  the  Empire,  pp.  61, 
67,72),  but  his  reasoning  is  not  demonstrative.  Others 
think  it  consumed  but  a  single  summer.  We  shall 
perhaps  be  safe  in  locating  it  in  47  and  48. 

120.  The  route  first  taken  seems  to  have  been  de- 
termined by  practical  considerations.  Accompanied 
by  John  Mark  as  a  helper  (xiii.  5),  the  missionaries 
went  from  Antioch  to  its  seaport,  Seleucia,  and  thence 
sailed  to  Cyprus.  This  was  doubtless  because  Barna- 
bas was  from  that  island.     Work,  too,  had  been  already 


FROM  CYPRUS  TO  PERGA  113 

begun  there  (xi.  19),  and  the  large  number  of  Jews 
provided  the  means  by  which  those  Gentiles  who  were 
influenced  by  the  synagogue  might  be  reached.  Land- 
ing at  Salamis,  they  preached  in  the  synagogues,  and 
gradually  traversed  the  whole  length  of  the  island. 
No  note  of  their  success  is  given  until  they  reached 
Paphos,  at  the  western  extremity  of  Cyprus.  There  the 
proconsul  himself,  Sergius  Paulus,  embraced  the  faith. 
He  had  been  influenced  by  Judaism  and  was  interested 
in  religion  ;  but  he  had  fallen  under  the  sway  of  a 
Jewish  sorcerer,  Barjesus,  who  called  himself  Elymas, 
or  "  the  wise  man,"  and  had  a  place  apparently  in  the 
proconsul's  retinue.  When  Elymas  opposed  the  mis- 
sionaries, Paul  openly  denounced  the  wickedness  of 
the  renegade  Jew  and  smote  him  with  blindness  (xiii. 
8-11) ;  and  this  sign  secured  the  adhesion  of  the  Roman 
to  the  new  teaching  (xiii.  12).  Luke  narrates  the  in- 
cident because,  as  in  the  case  of  Simon  Magus,  it  illus- 
trated the  triumph  of  the  faith  over  those  religious 
impostors  who  were  so  prominent  a  feature  of  the 
Roman  world  in  the  apostolic  age. 

121.  From  this  time  Paul  —  as  he  is  thenceforth 
called  in  Acts  (xiii.  9)  — .appears  as  the  leader  of 
the  campaign  (xiii.  13;  xiv.  12);  and  it  was  perhaps 
at  his  suggestion  that  they  sailed  northward  to  Perga 
in  Pamphylia.  There  Mark  left  them  and  returned  to 
Jerusalem.  His  conduct  displeased  Paul  (xv.  38).  We 
may  conjecture  that  Mark  was  unwilling  to  enter  on 
so  bold  and  large  an  enterprise  as  that  which  the 
apostle  was  undertaking  in  Asia  Minor  (see  Ramsay^ 
St.  Paul,  etc., p.  90;  Mcaiffert,  Ap.  Age,  p.  176). 
Whether  the  unwillingness  arose  from  personal  or 
theoretical   motives   does   not   appear.     It   again   evi- 


114  EARLY  EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY 

dences  the  devotion  of  Barnabas  that,  in  spite  of  his 
kinsman's  return,  he  was  ready  to  go  forward.  The 
stay  at  Perga,  however,  was  for  some  unknown  reason 
brief;  and  we  find  the  party  immediately  advancing 
northward,  probably  along  the  Oestrus  and  by  way  of 
Adaba  (^Ramsay,  Ch.  in  Emp.  p.  19),  to  Pisidian  An- 
tioch  (xiii.  14),  a  city  of  Phrygia,  lying  toward  the 
Pisidian  border,  which  was  then  the  military  centre 
of  the  southern  part  of  the  province  of  Galatia,  The 
journey  was  a  rough  and  perilous  one.  In  it  may  per- 
haps be  located  some  of  the  dangers  mentioned  in  II. 
Cor.  xi.  26,  27.  But  in  Pisidian  Antioch  the  mission- 
aries reached  a  place  of  large  importance.  Paul  had 
probably  long  had  it  in  mind  as  the  centre  of  the 
province  lying  north  of  his  own  Cilicia.  In  it  also 
was  a  mimerous  colony  of  Jews.  By  visiting  it,  Paul 
followed  his  well-known  policy  of  seizing  the  chief 
centres  of  population  and  influence. 

122.  The  work  in  Pisidian  Antioch  began  as  usual 
in  the  synagogue,  and  Paul's  address  (Acts  xiii.  16-41) 
aroused  at  once  the  interest  of  both  the  Jews  and  the 
devout  Gentiles  who  were  present.  It  is  worthy  of 
special  notice  as  being  the  earliest  recorded  teaching 
of  the  apostle.  (1)  In  it  he  first  reviewed  briefly  the 
history  of  Israel  (16-25),  to  show  that  God's  purpose 
culminated  in  the  sending  of  a  Saviour,  even  Jesus, 
whom  John  the  Baptist  had  specifically  declared  to  be 
Messiah.  This  part  of  the  address  is  like'  Stephen's 
in  its  historical  point  of' view;  but  it  follows  quite  a 
different  line  of  thought,  bringing  out  the  sovereign 
power  and  plan  of  God  in  Hebrew  history  and  setting 
Jesus  forth  as  the  Christ  of  promise.  Its  closing 
words  show  that  the  mission  of  the  Baptist  was  well 


PAUL'S   ADDRESS   AT   PISIDIAN   ANTIOCH         115 

known  among  the  Jews  of  the  dispersion  (comp.  also 
xviii.  25  ;  xix.  3),  and  illustrate  Paul's  familiarity 
with  the  teaching  of  John  as  it  is  given  in  the  gospels 
(comp.  verses  24,  25  with,  e.g.,  Luke  iii.  15,  16  ;  John 
i.  20-27).  (2)  The  address  next  recounted  (26-37) 
the  death,  burial,  and  resurrection  of  Jesus.  Both  his 
death  and  resurrection  were  in  precise  accord  with 
prophecy,  and  demonstrated  him  to  be  the  one  through 
whom  the  promises  to  Israel  will  be  fulfilled.  In  this 
section  we  are  reminded  of  Peter's  speeches  at  and 
after  Pentecost  (comp,  verse  27  with  iii.  17  ;  ii.  23  ;  iii. 
18  ;  verse  28  with  iii.  13  ;  verses  33-35  with  ii.  27 ;  verse 

37  with  ii.  31) ;  but  the  material  is  such  as  would  have 
been  naturally  common  to  both  preachers.  There  are 
also  characteristic  Pauline  ideas.  The  ignorance  of 
the  Jews  displayed  in  the  rejection  of  Jesus  (comp. 
I.  Cor.  ii.  8  ;  I.  Tim.  1.  13),  the  Lord's  burial  (comp. 
I.  Cor.  XV.  4),  his  repeated  appearances  to  the  original 
disciples  (I.  Cor.  xv.  5-7),  are  elsewhere  emphasized 
by  Paul.  That  he  does  not  here  appeal  to  Christ's 
appearance  to  himself  is  natural,  since  he  was  ad- 
dressing strangers,  and  the  primary  point  was  to 
appeal  to  the  original  witnesses  in  Jerusalem.  This, 
too,  is  in  accord  with  his  method  as  described  by  him 
in  1.  Cor.  xv.  5-7.  I 

123.   (3)  The  close  of  the  address  (38-41)  strikes  a   I 
still  more  decidedly  Pauline  note.     Like  Peter  (Acts  ii.  / 

38  ;  V.  31  ;  x.  43),  but  also  using  a  form  of  expression 
found  in  his  own  epistles  (Epli.  i.  7  ;  Col.  i.  14  ;  comp. 
Rom.  iv.  7  and  Acts  xxvi.  18),  he  declared  that  through 
Jesus  "  forgiveness  of  sins  "  was  offered  to  them.  But 
he  went  further.  As  every  Jew  would  agree,  salvation 
consists  in  the  declaration  by  God  that  before  him  a 


116  EARLY  EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY 

man  is  righteous.  This,  Paul  said,  is  now  possible. 
In  Jesus  every  believer  is  justified,  and,  as  he  puts  it 
with  great  emphasis  on  the  word  "  all,"  is  justified 
from  all  things  from  which  he  could  not  be  justified 
by  the  law  of  Moses.  This  may  be  regarded  as  an 
appeal  to  his  hearers'  consciousness  that  the  law  did 
not  secure  to  them  real  reconciliation  with  God,  but 
only  an  apparent  and  unsatisfying  merit  (comp.  Rom. 
X.  3  ;  Phil.  iii.  6,  9)  ;  or  it  may  be  understood  as  a 
declaration  that  they  could  not  by  the  law,  while  they 
could  by  faith,  be  completely  justified.  In  either  case 
the  idea  is  entirely  Pauline  (comp.  Wendt,  Apostel- 
geschichte).  The  warning  also  against  their  probable 
unbelief  is  again  after  Paul's  manner  (II.  Thess.  ii.  14, 
16  ;  Rom.  ix.-xi.).  While  offering  Jesus  to  the  Jews, 
he  realized  fully  that  the  nation  as  such,  like  the 
rulers  in  Jerusalem,  would  reject  him. 

124.  This  address  then  furnishes  the  first  glimpse 
into  the  apostle's  thought  and  method  as  a  preacher. 
Luke's  report  is,  of  course,  an  abstract,  and  contains 
traces  of  his  own  style  and  vocabulary.  Yet  as  in  other 
cases  he  preserves  the  thought,  and  in  great  measure 
the  diction,  of  the  speaker.  The  address  was  certainly 
adapted  to  the  mixed  audience  that  heard  it.  We 
should  not  regard  Paul's  epistles  as  representative  of 
his  ordinary  method  of  preaching.  His  speeches  in 
Acts  exhibit  a  versatility  and  adaptation  which  testify 
to  both  the  authenticity  of  the  reports  and  the  power 
of  the  apostle.  We  may  infer  also,  from  allusions  in 
the  epistles,  that  his  preaching  was  varied  and  practi- 
cal as  well  as  argumentative  (e.^.  I.  Thess.  i.  9,  10; 
ii.  11,  12  ;  iii.  4  ;  Gal.  iii.  1  ;  1.  Cor.  ii.  1-5).  Here, 
the  historical  introduction  was  calculated  to  awaken 


TURNING   TO   THE   GENTILES  117 

the  confidence  of  his  hearers  in  him  as  a  loyal  Hebrew. 
His  presentation  of  Jesus,  by  emphasizing  the  fulfil- 
ment of  prophecy  and  the  power  of  God  in  the  resur- 
rection, was  suited  to  make  the  deepest  impression. 
His  conclusion  appealed  to  the  longing  of  the  human 
heart,  whether  Jew  or  Gentile,  for  real  salvation.  At 
the  same  time  the  thought  moves  entirely  in  the  circle 
of  Pauline  teaching  as  we  know  it  from  the  epistles. 
Salvation  lies  in  justification  before  God.  Faith  alone 
is  its  condition.  The  death  and  resurrection  of 
Christ  are  the  means  whereby  salvation  has  been 
accomplished  and  certified.  These  were  the  leading 
truths  which  Paul  taught  in  his  epistles.  We  find 
him  already  teaching  them  in  Antioch ;  while  his  in- 
timation (verse  39)  that  the  law  cannot  save  shows 
that  he  stood  on  the  ground  on  which  he  was  destined 
soon  to  fight  the  battle  of  Christian  liberty  and  de- 
fend the  sufficiency  of  Jesus'  work. 

125.  The  favorable  impression  produced  by  the  ad- 
dress brought  a  larger  concourse,  specially  of  Gentiles, 
to  the  synagogue  on  the  next  Sabbath.  This,  however, 
awakened  the  anger  of  the  Jews,  who  feared  the  loss  of 
their  own  influence.  Hence  Paul  and  Barnabas  were 
led  to  declare  that  their  responsibility  to  the  Jews  was 
at  an  end  and  that  they  would  turn  to  the  Gentiles. 
It  is  the  first  known  time  that  this  course  was  taken 
by  them,  but  it  is  a  typical  example  of  their  method. 
Unlike  the  gradual  way  in  which  the  Palestinian  dis- 
ciples separated  from  the  synagogue,  in  these  foreign 
regions  the  separation  was  usually  rapid.  A  Christian 
community  arose  in  Pisidian  Antioch  which  was  mainly 
Gentile,  and  between  which  and  the  synagogue  antago- 
nism  at   once   began.     The    synagogue   possessed,   of 


118  EARLY  EXPANSION   OF  CHRISTIANITY 

course,  the  greater  influence  in  the  city.  It  was  espe- 
cially influential  among  the  women  (comp.  Jos.  BJ. 
II.  20.  2),  and  women  occupied  a  prominent  position  in 
the  society  and  even  in  the  political  and  official  life  of 
the  cities  of  Asia  Minor  (^Ramsay.,  Ch.  in  Emp.  p.  67). 
Through  these  agencies  the  civil  authorities  were 
arrayed  against  the  missionaries,  and  the  latter  were 
expelled.  They  went  to  Iconium,  leaving  behind  them 
a  considerable  body  of  believers. 

126.  Iconium  was  another  Phrygian  city,  and  lay 
about  eighty  miles  southeast  of  Antioch,  near  the  bor- 
der of  Lycaonia.  Ramsay  has  made  it  probable  that 
in  this  journey  Paul  and  Barnabas  followed  one  of  the 
great  Roman  roads  which  traversed  the  provinces  and 
united  them  for  military  and  commercial  purposes 
(Ch.  in  Emp.  p.  27).  The  work  in  Iconium  was  like 
that  in  Antioch,  and  was  attended  with  equal  success. 
The  Jews,  however,  again  made  trouble,  and  when  the 
work  had  progressed  for  some  time  (xiv.  3),  so  that  the 
city  was  divided  between  the  two  parties,  threatened 
another  persecution  from  the  authorities.  Thereupon 
the  missionaries  passed  over  into  Lycaonia  and  visited 
the  two  cities  of  Lystra  and  Derbe.  This  was  not,  how- 
ever, a  mere  flight  for  safety  into  an  unimportant 
region.  Lystra,  which  lay  eighteen  miles  southwest 
from  Iconium,  was  a  Roman  colony  and  a  military  cen- 
tre (Ch.  in  Emp.  p.  47) ;  and,  though  the  site  of  Derbe 
is  still  unidentified,  it  was  probably  an  important  place 
on  the  southeastern  frontier  of  the  province  of  Galatia 
{ibid.  p.  54).  The  missionaries,  therefore,  still  sought 
centres  of  influence  and,  though  everywhere  facing 
persecution,  steadily  pursued  their  plan. 

127.  Their  stay  in  Lystra  was  made  notable  by  Paul's 


PAUL   AT   LYSTRA  119 

healing  a  lame  man  (Acts  xiv.  8,  etc.).  The  miracle 
had  the  effect  of  persuading  the  populace  that  the 
foreign,  Greek-spealving  visitors  were  none  other  than 
the  gods  Zeus  and  Hermes ;  and  the  priest  of  the  tem- 
ple of  Zeus  before  the  city  was  about  to  offer  to  them 
sacrilices.  This  was  truly  a  new  and  unexpected  form 
of  misunderstanding,  and  gave  occasion  for  a  new  style 
of  address  from  Paul's  lips  (xiv.  15-18).  He  bravely 
proclaimed,  in  the  face  of  idolatry,  the  one  living  and 
true  God,  the  Creator  and  governor  of  all,  the  benefi- 
cent author  of  that  Nature  which  heathenism  blindly 
worshipped.  Again  the  report  is  a  mere  abstract,  but 
it  bears  its  substantial  authenticity  on  its  face.  Though 
there  is  not  a  word  in  it  of  the  way  of  salvation,  it  is 
strikingly  accordant  with  Paul's  expressions  elsewhere 
(comp.  verse  15  with  I.  Cor.  viii.  4  ;  Rom.  i.  20-23  ; 
I.  Thess.  i.  9  ;  verse  16  with  Acts  xvii.  26  ;  Rom.  i.  24  ; 
iii.  25  ;  verse  17  with  Rom.  i.  20),  and  reveals  the 
broad  basis  of  natural  religion  on  which  his  specifically 
Christian  teaching  rested.  It  illustrates  also  his  power 
of  adaptation  to  his  audience. 

128.  It  is  probable  that  during  the  visit  to  L}' 
Timothy  was  converted.  On  Paul's  next  visit  (xv 
he  found  this  young  disciple  well  reported  of  by  the 
brethren,  and  took  him  for  a  companion.  He  always 
speaks  of  Timothy  as  one  of  his  own  converts  (I.  Tim. 
i.  2,  18;  II.  Tim.  i.  2 ;  ii.  1),  and  reminds  him  in  later 
life  of  the  perils  he  had  undergone  at  this  time  (II. 
Tim.  iii.  10,  11).  It  is  natural  to  infer,  therefore,  that 
Timothy  was  converted  during  this  visit.  He  must 
have  been  very  young.  Ilis  Jewish  mother,  Eunice, 
had  married  a  Gentile,  but  had  trained  her  son  in  the 
Scriptures  of  her  race  (Acts  xvi.  3  ;  II.  Tim.  i.  5 ;  iii.  15). 


rstra      \ 


120  EARLY  EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY 

He  had,  however,  not  been  circumcised.  Perhaps  his 
mixed  blood  made  him  specially  sympathize  with  the 
Hebrew  preacher  to  the  Gentiles.  Paul's  affectionate 
references  to  Timothy's  mother  and  grandmother  (II. 
Tim.  i.  5)  suggest  also  that  the  persecuted  missionary 
found  in  them  receptive  listeners  and  warm  friends,  and 
perhaps  in  their  house  a  home. 

129.  The  work  in  Lystra  was,  however,  interrupted 
by  Jews  from  Antioch  and  Iconium,  who  followed  the 
missionaries  and  persuaded  the  populace  against  them. 
Where  Paul  had  been  offered  worship,  he  was  now 
dragged  out  of  the  city  and  stoned  (Acts  xiv.  19). 
Happily  he  was  not  killed,  and  on  the  next  day  left 
with  Barnabas  for  Derbe.  Nothing  is  said  of  the 
work  in  Derbe  except  that  disciples  were  made. 
The  missionaries  had  now  reached  the  limit  of  south 
Galatia,  and  determined  to  return  to  Syrian  Antioch 
with  a  report  of  their  mission.  They  might  have 
crossed  the  mountains  southwards  into  Cilicia  and 
gone  by  way  of  Tarsus  to  Syria,  but  they  did  not 
wish  to  leave  the  new  converts  without  further  in- 
struction and  organization.  Hence,  in  spite  of  the 
danger,  they  resolved  to  return  by  the  way  they  had 
come.  It  may  have  been  that  the  danger  had  decreased, 
perhaps  by  the  election  of  new  magistrates  in  the 
cities  of  the  province  {Ramsay^  Ch.  in  Emp.  p.  69). 
But  their  motive  was  to  revisit  the  disciples,  and  this 
they  would  have  done  in  the  face  of  danger.  So  from 
Derbe  they  returned  to  Lystra,  and  from  Lystra  to 
Iconiura,  and  from  Iconium  to  Pisidian  Antioch.  They 
not  only  encouraged,  instructed,  and  warned  the  con- 
verts, but  organized  them  into  churches  by  the  selec- 
tion and  ordination  of  elders  (xiv.  22)  in  every  place. 


METHODS  OF  THE  MISSIONARIES  121 

From  Pisidian  Antioch  they  returned  to  Perga.  There 
they  stopped  to  preach,  as  they  had  not  done  on  the 
former  visit.  Thence  they  went  to  the  seaport,  Attalia, 
and  sailed  to  Syrian  Antioch,  where  they  related  to 
the  church  "  all  things  that  God  had  done  with  them, 
and  how  that  he  had  opened  a  door  of  faith  unto  the 
Gentiles"  (Acts  xiv.  27,  R.  V.). 

130.  As  we  review  this  first  missionary  tour,  we 
may  observe  the  principles  on  which  Paul  and  Barna- 
bas acted,  (rt)  Their  plan  was,  in  general,  to  move 
westward  into  the  regions  next  beyond  those  already 
occupied.  It  would  be  too  much  to  say  that  Paul  as 
yet  contemplated  the  winning  of  the  empire  to  the 
faith.  They  doubtless  went  to  Cyprus,  because  it  was 
the  home  of  Barnabas,  and  then  to  Phrygia  and 
Lycaonia,  because  they  lay  just  beyond  Cilicia,  where 
Paul  had  lived  and  worked.  But  their  purpose  pointed 
westward,  and  thus  may  indicate  that  they  sought 
instinctively  to  carry  the  new  religion  into  the  civil- 
ized, Roman  world.  (&)  Their  policy  was  to  begin 
in  the  chief  cities  of  each  district,  since  these  were 
the  centres  of  influence,  (c)  They  established  in  each 
city  an  organized  church,  by  the  constitution  of  which 
the  life  of  the  disciples  would  be  fostered.  (r7)  They 
always  offered  the  gospel  first  to  Jews,  thus  never 
forgetting  the  claims  of  Israel ;  but  their  churches 
were  mixed,  in  most  of  them  Gentiles  predominated, 
and  in  them  all  Jew  and  Gentile  stood  on  an  equal  foot- 
ing. In  none  was  observance  of  the  Mosaic  law  re- 
garded as  necessary,  {e)  We  should  assume  also  that 
everywhere  they  carried  the  story  of  Jesus'  life,  death, 
and  resurrection ;  instructed  the  converts  in  the  beliefs 
and  duties   of   the   new    religion ;   and   laid   a   broad 


122  EARLY  EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

foundation  for  subsequent  Christian  life.  These 
details  are  barely  hinted  at  in  our  meagre  reports, 
but  Paul's  conduct  in  his  other  journeys  leaves  no 
doubt  as  to  his  method. 

131.  Finally,  it  should  be  noted  that  in  the  univer- 
sal spread  of  the  Greek  language  and  in  the  Roman 
government  of  the  provinces  there  was  an  evident 
providential  preparation  for  their  mission.  Nor  had 
Judaism  itself  failed  to  prepare  the  way.  Synagogues 
were  found  in  all  the  cities,  and  in  connection  with 
them  a  large  number  of  Gentiles  who  had  been  pro- 
foundly impressed  by  the  religion  of  Jehovah  and 
from  whom  most  of  the  converts  came.  The  exist- 
ence of  such  devout  Gentiles  is  amply  attested  both 
by  the  Acts  (xiii.  16,  43,  50),  secular  history,  and 
recently  deciphered  inscriptions.  Thus  the  men  and 
the  means,  the  faith  and  the  world,  were  brought 
together.  The  expansion,  begun  with  the  death  of 
Stephen,  had  steadily  continued,  finding  new  fields  to 
enter  and  new  men  to  enter  them.  With  this  the 
church's  realization  of  its  mission  had  expanded  like- 
wise. In  Paul  finally  had  appeared  the  man  who  by 
training,  experience,  and  revelation  was  prepared  to 
maintain  the  principles  on  which  the  expansion  could 
logically  proceed  and  to  carry  it  onward. 


PART   III 
JUDAIC   CHRISTIANITY 


HISTORICAL   SOURCES 

132.  To  the  phase  of  apostolic  history  included  in 
the  following  part  the  book  of  Acts  contributes  the 
account  of  the  council  at  Jerusalem  (xv.  1-35),  and 
that  of  Paul's  reception  by  James  and  the  elders  at  the 
close  of  his  third  missionary  journey  (xxi.  18-21). 
With  the  former  is  to  be  compared  Galatians  ii.  Their 
harmony  will  be  discussed  in  the  course  of  the  following 
narrative. 

133.  For  the  general  character  of  Judaic  Christi- 
anity the  leading  authority  is  the  epistle  of  James. 
While  Origen  is  the  first  known  writer  to  cite  this 
book  by  name,  the  evidence  of  its  use  goes  back  to  the 
apostolic  age  itself.  It  was  used  by  Clement  of  Rome 
(a.  d.  96)  and  Hermas  (a.  d.  140  ?),  and  acquaintance 
with  it  is  clearly  disclosed  in  the  first  epistle  of  Peter 
(comp.  I.  Pet.  i.  6,  7  and  Jas.  i.  2 ;  I.  Pet.  i.  24  and 
Jas.  i.  10,  11 ;  I.  Pet.  i.  25  and  Jas.  i.  18 ;  I.  Pet.  ii.  1 
and  Jas.  i.  21 ;  I.  Pet.  v.  5,  6,  8  and  Jas.  iv.  6,  7 ; 
I.  Pet.  iv.  8  and  Jas.  v.  20).  It  belongs,  therefore,  to 
the  earlier  part  of  the  apostolic  age,  and  its  contents 
point  to  a  date  before  the  controversy  about  circum- 
cision had  begun.  There  is  no  allusion  to  the  relation 
of  Gentiles  and  Jews  in  the  church.  The  difficulties 
and  faults  contemplated  in  it  lie  wholly  in  the  sphere 
of  Jewish  life.     In  the  communities  addressed  believ- 


126  JUDAIC   CHRISTIANITY 

ing  and  unbelieving  Hebrews  mingle  (ii.  1-13) ;  and  the 
writer's  teaching  about  justification  (ii.  14-26)  is  not 
directed  against  Paul's  doctrine,  for  the  two  in  reality 
coincide  (comp.  Gal.  v.  6,  14,  22,  23 ;  vi.  9,  10 ;  Rom. 
vi.  12,  13),  nor  against  a  current  misrepresentation  of 
Paul,  for  then  he  would  have  stated  his  view  more 
fully,  but  is  best  explained  as  directed  against  a  formal, 
intellectual  faith  which  was,  as  Pharisaism  shows, 
a  besetting  sin  of  Judaism.  These  features  comport 
best  with  a  date  before  the  council  at  Jerusalem,  say 
A.  D.  45-50.  The  author  describes  himself  simply  as 
"  James,  a  servant  of  God  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ ; "  and  this  title,  as  well  as  the  whole  character 
of  the  epistle,  supports  the  view  that  he  was  the  well- 
known  brother  of  the  Lord. 

134.  So  strongly  Judaic  is  the  tone  of  this  epistle, 
that  a  few  recent  critics  have  maintained  it  to  be  the 
work  of  a  non-Christian  Jew,  interpolated  here  and 
there  by  a  Christian  hand.  The  conclusive  reply  to 
this  is  that  the  work  is  saturated  with  allusions  to  the 
teachings  of  Jesus  (e.  g.  i.  2,  4,  5,  9,  12,  20  ;  ii.  13 ; 
iii.  1;  iv.  10;  v.  2,  8,  10,  12),  and  other  Christian 
ideas  {e.g.  i.  6,  8,  21;  ii.  5,  12,  13;  iv.  5  ;  v.  8,  9), 
while  it  contains  references  to  the  early  history  of 
Christianity  (ii.  5,  6;  v.  14)  and  probably  to  baptism 
(ii.  7).  Moreover,  an  interpolator  would  certainly  have 
introduced  more  frequent  mention  of  Jesus  than  the 
two  cases  which  alone  occur  (i.  1 ;  ii.  1).  Hence  a  larger 
number  of  scholars  date  the  epistle  much  later,  and 
deny  that  it  was  written  by  "  the  Lord's  brother."  It 
is  said  that  it  lays  no  stress  on  the  ceremonial  law, 
such  as  James  would  have  done ;  that  the  worldliness 
which  it  reproves  is  inconceivable  at  a  very  early  date, 


THE  EPISTLE  OF  JAMES  127 

as  is  also  the  absence  of  allusions  to  Christ,  and  to  his 
teaching  about  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  The  epistle  is  held,  therefore,  by  this  class 
of  critics  to  be  the  work  of  an  unknown  author,  who 
lived  late  in  the  first  century.  He  was  not  addressing 
Jewish  Christians  in  particular,  but  expresses  a  legal- 
istic type  of  Christianity  which,  it  is  said,  widely  pre- 
vailed outside  of  Pauline  circles  after  the  work  of  Paul 
had  been  concluded.  These  criticisms  in  turn  are  not 
well  founded.  The  first  forgets  the  Christianity  of 
James,  which  is  as  well  attested  as  his  attachment  to 
the  law.  It  is  most  probable  that,  like  Jesus,  he  would 
lay  stress  on  the  spiritual  content  of  the  law;  and  if 
the  conflict  concerning  the  relation  of  the  believer  to 
the  law  had  not  yet  risen,  there  was  no  reason  for  him 
to  exhort  Jewish  readers  to  observe  its  forms,  even  if 
he  had  been  inclined  to  do  so.  As  to  the  worldliness 
of  the  readers,  it  is  sufficient  to  recall  the  examples  of 
Ananias  and  Sapphira  after  Pentecost,  and  the  condition 
of  the  young  Corinthian  church  five  years  after  it  was 
founded,  to  show  that  even  in  the  earliest  part  of  the 
apostolic  age  the  church  was  exposed  to  temptations 
of  the  most  carnal  kind.  Its  alleged  legalism,  more- 
over, disappears  when  its  teaching  is  carefully  examined. 
The  argument  drawn  from  the  paucity  of  references  to 
Jesus  is  more  plausible  ;  but  these  features  are  equally 
difficult  of  explanation  at  a  later  period.  In  either 
case,  the  Christian  element  in  the  epistle  is  unquestion- 
able ;  and  its  peculiarities  are  most  naturally  explained 
b}^  assigning  to  it  an  early  date,  and  supposing  that  it 
was  addressed  especially  to  the  Jewish  Christians  of 
Syria  ('/.  B.  Mayor,  Th.  ZaJm,  Bcyschlag). 

135.    In    addition   to   these    authorities   for   Judaic 


128  JUDAIC  CHKISTIANITY 

Christianity  should  be  named  the  epistle  to  the  He- 
brews, That  work,  however,  does  not  represent  the 
opinions  of  Judaic  Christianity  as  current  in  the 
churches  of  Palestine.  While,  therefore,  allusions  in 
it  are  valuable  for  our  present  purpose,  its  teaching 
belongs  to  another  phase  of  the  history. 

136.  Of  extra-biblical  authorities  are  to  be  mentioned 
the  accounts  in  Josephus  (Antiq.  xx.  9. 1)  and  Eusebius 
(HE.  II.  23)  of  the  death  of  James,  as  well  as  the 
latter's  report  of  the  church's  flight  to  Pella  at  the 
opening  of  war  with  Rome  (HE.  III.  5)  and  of  the  ap- 
pointment of  Symeon  to  succeed  James  (III.  11). 


II 

THE  CHARACTER   OF  JUDAIC   CHRISTIANITY 

137.  In  describing  the  early  expansion  of  Christian- 
ity, we  have  noted  something  of  its  progress  among  the 
Jews.  We  have  seen  that  the  dispersion  of  the  disci- 
ples carried  the  faith  among  the  scattered  Hebrew 
communities,  especially  those  in  Syria  ;  and  that  in 
Judea,  after  the  cessation  of  the  first  persecution,  the 
number  of  believers  steadily  increased.  We  have  noted 
also  their  gradual  separation  from  the  synagogue  and 
the  establishment  of  churches  modelled  substantially 
after  the  synagogal  system.  We  have  further  observed 
the  sympathy  of  the  mother  church  with  the  work 
among  the  Gentiles.  The  latter  fact  is  attested  not 
only  in  the  Acts,  but  by  Paul  himself.  He  distinctly 
states  that  while  he  was  laboring  in  Cilicia  the  churches 
of  Judea  heard  of  his  activity  and  "  glorified  God  in  " 
him  (Gal.  i.  24). 

138.  Yet  it  would  appear  that  the  progress  of  Judaic 
Christianity  was  rather  external  than  internal.  Its 
loyalty  to  the  Mosaic  system  and  its  natural  satisfaction 
with  the  forms  in  which  religious  truth  had  been  pre- 
sented by  Mosaism  kept  it  theologically  stagnant.  It 
is  probable  that  most  of  the  Jewish  Christians  recon- 
ciled themselves  at  this  period  to  the  fellowship  of  un- 
circumcised  Gentiles  by  regarding  them  as  the  Gentile 
adherents   of  Judaism  itself  were  regarded ;  and  the 

9 


130  JUDAIC   CHRISTIANITY 

spread  of  Judaism  among  the  Gentiles  was  so  marked 
a  feature  of  the  age  that  the  adhesion  of  the  latter  to 
the  new  faith,  without  receiving  circumcision,  seemed 
less  perilous  to  Jewish  institutions  than  it  appeared 
later.  Certainly  no  conflict  on  the  subject  had  yet 
arisen.  Judaic  Christianity  at  this  period  may  be 
likened  to  the  course  of  a  stream  which  has  spread  out 
upon  a  meadow,  destined  indeed  to  be  carried  into  the 
rushing  torrent  farther  on,  but  as  yet  only  slightly 
moved  by  the  current.  It  presents,  therefore,  a  pecu- 
liarly interesting  study. 

139.  After  the  Herodian  persecution  (a.  d.  44)  the 
most  conspicuous  individual  among  the  Palestinian 
Christians  was  James  "the  Lord's  brother"  (Gal.  i. 
19 ;  comp.  Gal.  ii.  9 ;  Acts  xii.  17 ;  xv.  13 ;  xxi.  18 ; 
Matt.  xiii.  55 ;  Mark  vi.  3 ;  Jos.  Antiq.  xx.  9.  1  ; 
Eus.  HPl  II.  23).  He  is  not  to  be  identified  with  the 
apostle  James,  the  son  of  Alpheeus,  for  "  the  brethren 
of  the  Lord  "  are  distinguished  by  the  evangelists  from 
the  apostles  (Matt.  xii.  46 ;  John  vii.  3,  5 ;  Acts  i.  14). 
Paul's  language  (Gal.  i.  19  ;  I.  Cor,  xv.  7)  has  indeed 
been  thought  to  imply  that  James  was  an  apostle,  and 
the  hypothesis  has  been  advanced  that  after  the  death 
of  James  the  son  of  Zebedee  (Acts  xii.  2),  the  brother 
of  the  Lord  was  chosen  to  fill  his  place.  Others  think 
that  in  these  passages  Paul,  contrary  to  his  usual  cus- 
tom, uses  the  term  "  apostle  "  in  a  loose  sense.  But 
his  language  does  not  compel  either  of  these  interpre- 
tations. That  in  Galatians  i.  19  James  is  not  neces- 
sarily to  be  included  among  the  apostles  is  shown  by 
the  example  of  other  sentences  similarly  constructed 
{e.  g.  Rom.  xiv.  14 ;  Luke  iv.  26) ;  while  in  I.  Corinthi- 
ans XV.  7  the  order  of  words  in  the  original  would  seem 


JAMES,  THE   LORD'S  BROTHER  131 

to  imply  that  James  is  rather  distinguished  from  than 
included  among  tliem.  As  already  observed  also,  it 
is  questionable  whether  he  was  meant  to  be  included 
among  the  apostles  by  Luke  in  Acts  ix.  27  (sect.  94). 
Certainly,  apart  from  these  very  doubtful  instances,  he 
is  not  called  an  apostle  ;  and,  what  is  most  significant, 
he  does  not  so  call  himself  in  his  epistle.  It  is  more 
likely  that  after  the  apostolate  had  become  delocalized 
by  the  progress  of  the  organization  of  the  Judean 
churches  (sect.  103),  James,  who  remained  in  Jeru- 
salem, became  the  practical  leader  of  the  Jewish 
Christians ,  and  this  leadership,  on  account  of  his  per- 
sonal character  and  high  spiritual  gifts,  rather  than 
because  of  any  office  held  by  him,  became  so  marked 
that  he  exerted  an  influence  equal  to  that  of  the  apostles 
themselves  (Gal.  ii.  9),  and  was  remembered  in  after 
times  as  the  head  of  the  mother  church  {Eus.  HE. 
II.  1). 

140.  At  any  rate  the  prominence  and  influence  of 
James  is  beyond  dispute.  Peter,  when  fleeing  from 
imprisonment,  sent  word  of  his  escape  to  "  James  and 
the  brethren"  (Acts  xii.  17).  At  the  council  of  Jeru- 
salem James'  opinion  had  decisive  weight  (xv.  12-21). 
It  was  "  certain  from  James,"  whose  presence  at  Anti- 
och  led  Peter  to  withdraw  from  fellowship  with  Gentiles 
(Gal.  ii.  12).  On  Paul's  final  return  to  Jerusalem  it 
was  "James  and  the  elders"  who  received  him  (Acts  xxi. 
18).  The  epistle  of  James  witnesses  to  the  authority 
and  wide  influence  of  its  writer;  and  the  author  of 
"  Jude "  introduced  himself  to  his  readers  as  the 
"  brother  of  James  "  (Jude  1).  To  this  may  be  added 
the  testimony  of  secular  history  and  tradition.  Josephus 
(Antiq.  xx.  9,  1)  relates  that  after  the  recall  of  Festus 


132  JUDAIC  CHRISTIANITY 

(a.  d.  62  ?)  the  high-priest  Ananus  secured  the  stoning 
of  James,  the  brother  of  Jesus,  and  of  some  others,  on 
the  ground  that  they  had  broken  the  law ;  but  that  the 
better  citizens  complained  of  the  act,  so  that  in  conse- 
quence Ananus  was  removed  from  office  by  Agrippa  II. 
The  respect  in  which  James  was  held  by  the  whole  city 
is  also  attested  by  tradition.  Hegesippus  relates  {Bus. 
HE.  II.  23)  that  he  was  known  as  "  the  Just "  and  as 
"  the  bulwark  of  the  people  ;  "  that  he  lived  the  life  of 
a  Nazarite ;  that  he  had  a  high  reputation  for  piety  of 
a  rather  ascetic  type.  Hegesippus'  account  contains 
some  fanciful  features,  and  his  narrative  of  James' 
death,  in  which  the  Lord's  brother  is  said  to  have  been 
cast  by  the  Jews  from  the  roof  of  the  temple,  then 
stoned  and  finally  beaten  on  the  head,  bears  traces  of 
considerable  legendary  embellishment  and  is  a  less 
probable  account  than  that  given  by  Josephus.  But 
the  evidence,  wherever  we  find  it,  discloses  a  man  of 
large  influence,  impressive  character,  and  intense  piety 
according  to  the  finest  Hebrew  ideals,  —  one,  therefore, 
most  likely  to  attain  leadership  among  the  Jewish 
disciples. 

141.  In  order  to  form  a  still  clearer  image  of  James 
we  must  go  back  to  the  Nazarene  home  in  which  Jesus 
was  reared.  The  "  brethren  of  the  Lord  "  were  either 
the  children  of  Joseph  by  a  former  marriage,  or  the 
children  of  Joseph  and  Mary  born  after  Jesus.  The 
latter  view  seems  best  to  accord  with  the  intimations 
of  the  gospels.  The  view  advanced  by  Jerome  and 
elaborated  by  others  that  they  were  the  cousins  of 
Jesus  on  his  mother's  side  is  beset  with  difficulties,  of 
which  it  is  sufficient  to  mention  the  fact  that  it  identi- 
fies James  with  the  son  of  Alphseus,  and  so  makes  him 


THE   POSITION   OF  JAMES  133 

one  of  the  original  apostles.  There  is  still  less  foun- 
dation for  the  view  that  they  were  the  cousins  of  Jesus 
on  Joseph's  side.  In  any  event  James  had  been  the 
daily  associate  of  Jesus  in  the  Nazarene  home.  We 
infer  that  from  early  life  he  had  been  an  earnest,  reli- 
gious character,  steeped  in  the  teaching  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  in  later  Hebrew  literature.  The  tra- 
dition of  his  devoted  piety  can  hardly  have  been  with- 
out some  foundation.  His  knowledge  of  Greek,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  explained  by  the  bilingual  character  of 
Jewish  society,  especially  in  the  region  of  the  Sea  of 
Galilee.  Yet  with  all  his  piety  James  did  not  accept 
Jesus  as  Messiah.  This  does  not  exclude,  however, 
sympathy  with  much  of  Jesus'  teaching  nor  warm 
affection  for  his  person.  His  unbelief  may  have  been 
due  to  Jesus'  rupture  with  many  Jewish  convention- 
alities ;  also  to  James'  exalted  view  of  the  glory  of 
Messiah,  and  the  impression  of  Jesus'  lowliness  pro- 
duced on  one  who  had  himself  shared  it.  The  fact 
that  Jesus,  after  his  resurrection,  appeared  to  James 
(I.  Cor.  XV.  7)  is  a  testimony  to  the  latter's  high  char- 
acter as  well  as  to  his  Brother's  love  for  him  and  fore- 
sight of  his  future  usefulness. 

142.  We  cannot  wonder,  then,  that,  when  convinced 
of  the  Messiahship  of  his  former  brother  but  now  risen 
Lord,  James  soon  ranked  high  in  the  new  community. 
It  is  not  clear  what  office  he  occupied  in  the  Jerusalem 
church.  Later  tradition  made  him  its  first  bishop, 
chosen  to  that  office  by  the  apostles  {I^us.  HE.  II.  23) ; 
and  among  extreme  Jewish  Christians  of  the  second 
century  he  was  represented  as  the  bishop  of  the  entire 
church  (Clem.  Homilies).  But  these  traditions  read 
back  later  ideas  into  the  apostolic  age.     He  was  doubt- 


134  JUDAIC   CHRISTIANITY 

less  one  of  the  elders  of  the  church  ;  and,  if  the 
eldership  of  Jerusalem  had  a  permanent  president,  — 
of  which  there  is  no  proof,  —  James  presumably  held 
that  office.  It  is  more  probable,  however,  that  his  influ- 
ence was  personal  rather  than  official.  His  relation  to 
Jesus  naturally  enhanced  it.  He  was  clearly  the  man 
to  lead  the  Jewish  believers.  Devoted  to  the  ritual 
law,  he  interpreted  it  in  the  spirit  of  Jesus.  A 
thorough  Jew,  he  was  not  a  formalist.  Amid  the 
general  hostility  to  the  church,  he  gave  the  cause  repu- 
tation even  with  unbelievers.  In  the  political  and  civil 
excitements  of  the  time  he  kept  the  disciples'  thoughts 
fixed  on  the  true  service  and  on  the  duty  of  patiently 
waiting  for  Messiah's  return.  He  was  thus  quite  as 
truly  fitted  to  his  situation  as  Paul  was  to  the  work  of 
preaching  to  the  Gentiles. 

143.  These  remarks  are  justified  by  the  epistle  of 
James,  which  is  the  historic  monument  of  early  Judaic 
Christianity.  It  is  addressed  to  "  the  twelve  tribes  of 
the  dispersion."  This  phrase  might  have  been  used  of 
Christians  generally  (comp.  I.  Pet.  i.  1),  but,  in  the 
absence  of  other  indications,  naturally  describes  Jews 
(comp.  Acts  xxvi.  7)  who  in  their  Christian  wander- 
ings realized  afresh  the  dispersion  of  Israel.  Tlie 
phrase  is  thus  well  satisfied,  if  we  suppose  that  the 
Jewish  believers  scattered  throughout  Syria,  and  per- 
haps not  excluding  Palestine,  since  the  church  as  a 
whole  was  in  a  state  of  dispersion,  were  especially  in 
mind ;  for  certainly  the  readers  were  Christians 
(ii.  1).  Yet  into  their  synagogue  an  unbelieving  Jew 
might  come  (ii.  2-6) ;  and  in  v.  1-6  the  writer 
utters  an  invective  against  the  rich,  which  is  plainly 
directed  against  Jewish   oppressors  of   the   poor.     In 


THE   EPISTLE   OF  JAMES  135 

iii.  9-12  and  iv.  1-10,  also,  while  believers  are  in- 
cluded in  the  reproofs,  they  are  represented  as  liable 
to  sins  which  were  peculiarly  characteristic  of  their 
compatriots.  The  external  situation  of  the  readers 
thus  corresponds  with  that  mixed  condition  of  believ- 
in<^  and  unbelieving  Jews  which  we  have  found  existing 
during  the  early  spread  of  the  faith  among  the  Jews  of 
Syria. 

144.  The  epistle  itself  is  an  earnest  homily.  It 
begins  with  an  exhortation  to  joy  amid  trial  because  of 
its  spiritual  discipline  (i.  2-4).  Wisdom  to  live  aright 
can  be  surely  obtained  from  God  (5).  But  steadfast 
faith  is  the  keynote  of  the  true  religious  life  (6-8). 
Outward  circumstances  are  nothing  in  comparison  with 
spiritual  realities  (9-11).  God  is  the  giver  of  all  good ; 
and  in  the  joy  of  his  spiritual  quickening  through  the 
word  of  truth,  and  in  the  sense  of  deliverance  from 
indwelling  sin,  which  is  the  cause  of  spiritual  death, 
his  children  are  hopefully  to  trust  him  (12-18). 
Obedience  also  is  the  true  worship.  Hence  they  must 
seek  to  work  out  in  life  God's  own  righteousness 
(19-20).  This  can  only  be  done  by  the  real  reception 
of  his  revealed  word  into  the  heart  (21).  Christian 
life  is  not  one  of  slavery  to  precepts,  but,  looking 
into  the  perfect  law  of  liberty,  believers  are  to  bring 
forth  the  true  religious  service  of  benevolence  and 
holiness  (22-27).  The  author  then  rebukes  in  turn 
certain  faults  to  which  his  readers  were  liable,  and 
which,  it  should  be  noted,  were  just  those  into  which 
Jewish  Christians  were  likely  to  fall.  These  are  (1) 
the  overvaluation  of  riches  and  rich  men  (ii.  1-13) ; 
(2)  reliance  on  a  merely  formal,  intellectual  faith 
(ii.  14-26)  ;  (3)  pride  in  knowledge  and  in  the  position 


136  JUDAIC  CHRISTIANITY 

of  being  teachers  of  others  (iii.) ;  (4)  absorption  in  civil 
and  political  strife  to  the  injury  of  religious  interests 
(iv.  1-12) ;  (5)  undue  devotion  to  worldly  business, 
an  evil  which  is  signally  illustrated  by  the  frequent 
oppression  of  the  poor  by  the  rich  {iv.  13  to  v.  8). 
Exhortations  to  patience,  against  swearing,  to  prayer 
and  the  conversion  of  sinners,  bring  the  epistle  to  its 
close  (v.  9-20).  The  work  is  saturated  with  Old  Testa- 
ment language  and  allusions,  though  it  contains  but 
four  formal  quotations  (ii.  4,  23;  iv.  5,  6).  It  also 
betrays  familiarity  with  the  wisdom-literature  of  the 
post-canonical  period  (e.  g.  i.  5,  19;  iii.  2  with  Ecclus. 
xH.  22 ;  V.  11 ;  xix.  6 ;  xxviii.  13-26 ;  and  iv.  14 ;  v.  6 
with  Wisd.  of  Sol.  ii.  4, 12-20). 

145,  This  conception  of  Christianity  is  what  we 
would  expect  from  the  brother  of  Jesus.  His  ideal  of 
life  is  the  real  working  out  of  God's  righteousness,  the 
true  performance  of  the  divine  will  (i.  20 ;  comp.  Matt, 
vi.  33).  He  regards  the  law  not  as  a  collection  of  dis- 
jointed precepts,  but  as  the  revelation  of  a  principle 
whereby  we  live  in  harmony  with  God  (ii.  10).  It  is 
to  be  interpreted,  therefore,  with  a  view  to  its  deep, 
spiritual  content  (i.  22 ;  ii.  8).  By  the  law,  however, 
he  means  not  only  the  Old  Testament,  but  this  as  com- 
pleted by  a  new  revelation  which  the  Christian  has 
received  (i.  18,  21,  22).  Obedience  also  consists  in 
the  free  service  of  love  (i.  25).  James'  position,  there- 
fore, corresponds  closely  with  that  of  our  Lord  in  the 
sermon  on  the  mount.  In  neither  case  was  it  the 
object  to  exhibit  the  way  of  salvation,  but  to  show  how 
a  saved  man  should  live.  Hence  a  reason  why  James 
says  so  little  of  Clirist  and  nothing  of  the  stirring 
events  of  his  career,  which  all  his  readers  knew ;  though 


THE  BELIEFS  OF  JEWISH  CHRISTIANS  137 

the  titles  "  Lord "  and  "  Lord  of  glory "  arc  enough 
to  indicate  his  belief  in  Jesus  as  one  sent  from  heaven, 
the  exalted  Messiah  and  th<3  revealcr  of  the  Father. 
To  him,  we  may  believe,  the  method  of  salvation  lay 
sufficiently  disclosed  in  the  temple  ritual,  to  which  he 
and  his  readers  were  loyal.  Their  faith  in  Jesus  as 
their  Saviour  and  Lord  lay  side  by  side  with  their  use 
of  the  appointed  sacrifices,  without  their  realizing  as 
yet  the  full  relation  of  the  two.  What  most  impressed 
them  was  the  fact  that  God  had  quickened  them  by 
the  crowning  revelation  of  his  will.  Their  former 
Judaism  had  blossomed  into  a  spiritual  life  of  love  and 
holiness  through  the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  their  faith 
in  him  as  Messiah.  Into  the  full  joy  of  this  rich 
experience  James  would  lead  them ;  and  in  so  doing 
he  reflects  that  side  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  which 
would  naturally  impress  an  earnest  Jew.  Meanwhile 
he  realized  that  the  existing  state  of  things  was  tempo- 
rary. Not  yet  had  the  promises  of  glory  been  fulfilled. 
The  return  of  Christ  is  therefore  emphasized  for  the 
encouragement  of  his  suffering  disciples  (v.  7,  8,  9) 
and  for  a  warning  to  sinners  (ii.  12 ;  iv.  12).  James 
thus  sounds  the  notes  of  faith,  spiritual  service,  and 
patient  endurance  which  were  most  needful  to  the 
scattered  Hebrew  disciples,  and  his  emphasis  on  these, 
in  the  circumstances,  evinces  a  profound  appreciation 
of  the  teaching  of  the  Master. 

146.  This  epistle,  therefore,  illuminates  the  early 
period  of  Judaic  Christianity.  The  impulse  to  dogmatic 
development  did  not  as  yet  exist.  It  needed  the  outbreak 
of  controversy.  There  must  have  been  much  that  these 
Jewish  believers  could  not  understand.  What  was  to 
be  the  ultimate  relation  of   their  faith   to  Judaism  ? 


138  JUDAIC  CHRISTIANITY 

What  should  be  their  attitude  to  national  politics  ?  In 
what  way  would  their  Messiah  vindicate  his  claims  ? 
The  answers  to  these  problems  must  have  been  quite 
obscure.  Their  religion  comprised  faith  in  Jesus  as 
Messiah,  the  spiritual  interpretation  of  the  divine  law 
as  he  had  elucidated  it,  the  cultivation  of  the  love  and 
holiness  which  he  had  exhibited  and  commanded,  the 
actual  enjoyment  of  reconciliation  with  God  through 
faith  in  Christ,  the  consciousness  of  a  new  life  bestowed 
by  God,  the  confident  expectation  of  Christ's  return  in 
glory  to  make  all  things  right.  These  are  the  main 
features  of  Christian  life  revealed  to  us  by  James.  His 
epistle  reflects  a  period  of  transition.  It  shows  also 
that  Christian  life  was  not  being  fed  by  current  Jewish 
thought,  for  there  is  not  a  trace  in  it  of  national  hopes 
or  of  apocalyptic  fancies,  but  by  the  Old  Testament, 
the  teaching  of  Jesus,  and  the  leading  of  the  Spirit 
(iv.  5).  Thus,  side  by  side  with  Judaism,  reverencing 
the  law  and  worshipping  in  the  temple,  forming  its  own 
synagogues  but  not  breaking  with  the  national  life, 
Judaic  Christianity  strove  to  appropriate  the  message 
of  Jesus  and  to  await  his  return.  It  was  a  condition  of 
things  which  could  not  long  remain.  The  expansion 
of  Christianity  and  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  were  destined 
soon  to  disturb  it ;  yet  quite  as  certainly  was  it  a  con- 
dition which  must  have  existed  among  the  Jewish 
believers  at  this  period  of  the  history. 


Ill 

THE   COUNCIL   AT   JERUSALEM 

147.  The  composure  of  the  church  was  at  last  dis- 
turbed by  the  inevitable  controversy  concerning  the 
obligation  of  Gentile  believers  to  observe  the  Mosaic  law. 
The  controversy  was  inevitable,  because  the  principle  of 
salvation  by  faith  alone,  which  had  been  proclaimed  from 
the  beginning  and  on  which  the  expansion  among  the 
Gentiles  had  proceeded,  was  really  inconsistent  with 
the  binding  obligation  on  Gentiles  of  the  law.  In  spite 
of  the  harmony  which  had  existed,  the  question  was 
certain  to  be  raised.  On  its  solution,  in  fact,  the 
continued  unity  and  progress  of  the  cause  depended. 
Three  positions  were  possible.  It  might  be  held  that 
all  believers  were  freed  from  the  law.  This  could  be 
maintained  only  so  far  as  it  was  realized  that  the  work 
of  Messiah  had  satisfied  the  requirements  of  the  law 
and  thus  relieved  his  people  from  them.  Or  it  might 
be  held  that  Jews  alone  were  bound  to  observe  the  law. 
This  could  be  maintained  on  the  ground  that  Mosaism 
was  a  national  religion,  and  therefore  binding  on  Chris- 
tian Hebrews  as  Hebrews,  though  not  as  Christians.  Or, 
finally,  it  might  be  held  that  the  law  was  still  binding 
upon  all,  and  that  Gentiles  must  accept  it  in  order  to 
be  Christians.  This  view  would  make  Christianity 
merely  a  purified  Judaism,  and  would  be  really  incon- 
sistent with  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  faith  in  Jesus, 


140  JUDAIC   CHRISTIANITY 

which  had  been  taught  from  the  beginning.  It  is  clear 
that  these  opinions  were  certain  to  appear  among  the 
Christian  Jews.  It  is  equally  clear  that  the  question  at 
issue  would  prove  a  burning  one,  for  all  the  prejudices 
and  traditions  of  Judaism  were  involved  in  it.  But  the 
third  view  meant  a  death-blow  to  the  expanding  faith 
and  to  its  integrity  and  sufficiency.  The  decision,  there- 
fore, was  as  necessary  as  the  controversy  was  inevitable. 
148.  The  controversy  actually  broke  out  in  Antioch 
after  the  return  of  Barnabas  and  Paul  from  their  success- 
ful missionary  journey.  The  rapid  spread  of  Gentile 
Christianity  aroused  the  anxiety  and  displeasure  of  some 
of  the  stricter  Jewish  party  in  Jerusalem.  It  seemed  to 
them  to  threaten  seriously  the  reverence  for  the  Mosaic 
law  which  they  held  to  be  due  from  all  followers  of 
Messiah.  It  even  appeared  possible  that  Christianity 
might  be  wholly  separated  from  Judaism  and  the  pre- 
eminence of  Israel  be  lost.  The  anomalous  condition 
which  had  heretofore  existed  could  therefore  no  longer 
be  allowed.  Steps  must  be  taken  to  prevent  the  de- 
struction of  Jewish  prerogative  and  custom  ;  and  since 
adherents  to  a  considerable  extent  had  been  made  by 
the  church  from  the  Pharisees,  we  can  well  believe  that 
the  influence  of  this  strict  Jewish  party  had  become 
greater  in  the  Jerusalem  congregation  than  it  had  been 
at  an  earlier  period.  Hence  certain  of  them  went  to 
Antioch,  and  boldly  taught  that  unless  believers  were 
circumcised,  they  could  not  be  saved  (Acts  xv.  1).  Later 
events  prove  that  these  emissaries  did  not  represent  the 
majority  of  the  mother  church,  still  less  her  leaders. 
They  represented  only  the  Pharisaic  party  (Acts  xv.  6). 
There  is  evidence  also  that  the  visit  was  prompted  by 
a  factious  spirit.     The  disclaimer  afterwards  made  by 


DEPUTATION  FROM  ANTIOCH  TO  JERUSALEM      141 

"  the  apostles  and  elders  "  (xv.  24)  seems  to  imply  that 
these  missionaries  of  Judaism  had  falsely  declared  to 
the  Antiochans  that  the  leaders  in  Jerusalem  shared 
their  views  or  had  even  sent  them  on  their  mission. 
Their  teaching  was  in  fact  revolutionary,  and  they  must 
have  known  it  to  be  so.  Paul,  speaking  of  the  same 
class  of  teachers,  if  not  of  these  very  men,  calls  them 
"  false  brethren  privily  brought  in,  who  came  in  privily 
to  spy  out  our  liberty  which  we  have  in  Christ  Jesus, 
that  they  might  bring  us  into  bondage"  (Gal.  ii.  4,  R.  V.). 
The  Judaizers  might  seem  merely  to  be  anxious  to  pre- 
serve the  loyalty  to  the  law  which  Jewish  Christians 
had  always  professed  ;  but  in  reality  they  were  disloyal 
to  the  principle  of  faith  which  was  distinctive  of  the 
gospel,  and  to  the  fraternal  liberality  toward  Gentile 
brethren  which  the  church  had  long  displayed.  They 
were  the  means,  however,  of  bringing  this  fundamental 
question  to  a  definite  issue. 

149.  In  consequence  of  the  Judaistic  agitation,  the 
church  of  Antioch  sent  a  deputation,  at  the  head  of 
which  were  Paul  and  Barnabas,  to  lay  the  matter  be- 
fore the  apostles  and  elders  in  Jerusalem  (Acts  xv.  2). 
This  is  the  visit  described  by  Paul  in  Galatians  ii.  1-10. 
In  both  accounts  the  acting  parties  and  the  purpose  of 
the  visit  are  the  same.  We  have  already  seen  (sect. 
116)  that  Galatians  ii.  does  not  refer  to  the  visit  with 
the  gifts  from  Antioch ;  and  it  cannot  refer  to  a  visit 
later  than  this  one,  because  Paul's  argument  absolutely 
requires  that  he  should  not  pass  this  visit  over  in 
silence.^     At  the  same  time  the  two  accounts  of  the 

1  The  recent  conjecture  of  J.  V.  Bartlet  (Apost.  Age,  p.  57)  that 
Galatians  ii.  1-10  describes  an  unrecorded  visit  of  Paul  to  Jerusalem 
earlier  than  that  of  Acts  xi.  30,  does  not  seem  to  have  any  tangible 


142  JUDAIC   CHRISTIANITY 

visit  by  Luke  and  Paul  are  written  from  different 
points  of  view.  Luke  traces  historically  the  external 
events  to  their  issue.  Paul  wrote  for  the  specific  pur- 
pose of  showing  that  his  own  apostolic  authority  and 
teaching  had  been  recognized  by  the  mother  church 
and  her  leaders.  He  therefore  only  alludes  to  such 
facts  as  were  of  importance  for  his  argument.  The 
two  accounts  are  thus  supplementary.  Their  harmony 
has  frequently  been  denied,  but  is  now  generally  ad- 
mitted in  all  essential  points ;  and  a  close  examination 
fails  to  show  any  points  in  which  they  are  discordant. 

150.  Thus,  according  to  Acts  the  visit  was  that  of 
a  deputation  sent  by  the  Antiochan  church.  Paul,  on 
the  other  hand,  relates  that  he  went  up  "by  revelation  " 
(Gal.  ii.  2)  ;  yet  it  is  easy  to  understand  that,  in  so 
grave  a  crisis,  and  especially  when  by  going  he  seemed 
to  submit  his  preaching  to  the  judgment  of  others,  he 
needed  a  revelation  to  make  his  duty  clear.  Again, 
he  mentions,  while  Acts  does  not,  the  presence  of 
Titus,  and  makes  much  of  the  fact  that  the  latter  was 
not  compelled  to  be  circumcised.  He  does  this  be- 
cause Titus,  who  was  doubtless  one  of  the  Antiochan 
delegation,  was  a  test  case  for  his  argument,  since  the 
reception  of  Titus  as  a  Christian  brother  proved  in 
the  most  practical  way  the  church's  recognition  of 
Paul's  ministry  and  teaching.  So,  too,  the  spirit  in 
which  Paul  and  Barnabas  made  the  visit  corresponds 
in  both  accounts.  According  to  Acts  (xv,  3)  they 
proclaimed,  as  they  went,  the  conversion  of  the  Gen- 
evidence  to  support  it.  It  assumes  also  a  doubtful  interpretation  of  II. 
Corinthians  xii.  2-5.  Moreover,  the  visit  of  Galatians  was  certainly 
a  public  and  representative  one,  so  that  its  omission  by  Luke  is 
inexplicable. 


HARMONY   OF  ACTS  AND   GALATIANS  143 

tiles.  Ill  Galatians,  Paul  relates  "  I  laid  before  them 
[i.  e.  the  Christians  in  Jerusalem]  the  gospel  which  I 
preach  among  the  Gentiles,  but  privately  before  them 
who  were  of  repute  [an  additional  fact],  lest  by  any 
means  I  should  be  running,  or  had  run,  in  vain  "  (Gal. 
ii.  2,  R.  Y.).  The  last  clause  does  not  mean  that  ho  sub- 
mitted his  teaching  to  the  judgment  of  others,  being 
willing  to  retract  it  if  they  disapproved ;  for  he  im- 
mediately adds  that  when  "  false  brethren  "  demanded 
the  circumcision  of  Titus,  he  would  not  yield  even  for 
an  hour.  The  clause  in  question  describes  rather  a 
confident  appeal  to  the  brethren  to  say  if  it  were  true, 
as  some  alleged,  that  he  was  running  in  vain  (comp. 
Meyer- Sieffert,  Kommentar).  In  both  accounts,  there- 
fore, the  deputation  went  to  Jerusalem,  recognizing 
indeed  the  ecclesiastical  authority  of  the  mother 
church,  but  confident  of  her  support  and  prepared  to 
maintain  their  views  to  the  end. 

151.  According  to  both  accounts,  also,  the  general 
sentiment  of  the  church  was  disturbed  in  Jerusalem, 
as  it  had  been  in  Antioch,  by  the  Judaizers,  who  vio- 
lently maintained  that  Gentile  converts  should  be 
required  to  observe  the  Mosaic  law  (Acts  xv.  3-5 ; 
Gal.  ii.  3,  4).  In  Acts  it  is  related  that  this  led  to 
the  convening  of  a  council,  composed  of  the  apostles 
and  elders,  at  which  the  subject  was  discussed,  ad- 
dresses made  by  Peter,  Paul,  Barnabas  and  James,  and 
the  decision  reached  that  Gentiles  should  not  be  re- 
quired to  observe  the  law,  but  only  to  abstain  from 
certain  acts  peculiarly  offensive  to  Jews  (xv.  6-29). 
Paul  does  not  mention  the  council ;  yet  his  declaration 
that  Titus  was  not  compelled  to  be  circumcised,  and 
that  this  was  a  refusal  by  the  Jerusalem  church  to 


144  JUDAIC   CHRISTIANITY 

accede  to  the  demands  of  the  "false  brethren"  (Gal. 
ii.  3,  4),  implies  that  formal  action  of  some  kind  was 
taken.  He  pithily  states,  by  presenting  the  concrete 
case  of  Titus,  the  main  result  of  the  council  which 
Luke  describes.  Again,  in  Acts  (xv.  6,  22)  the  coun- 
cil is  said  to  have  been  composed  of  "  the  apostles  and 
elders,"  while  Peter  and  James  delivered  the  chief 
addresses.  Paul  speaks  of  having  seen  of  the  apostles 
only  Peter  and  John,  but  the  presence  of  these  two  is 
sufficient  to  justify  Luke's  expressions,  even  if  no  other 
apostles  were  there  ;  while  according  to  both  sources 
James  appears  as  the  most  influential  personage  (Acts 
XV.  13-21;  Gal.  ii.  7).  It  might  seem  from  Acts  xv. 
22  that  the  whole  church  was  present  at  the  delibera- 
tion ;  but  the  language  probably  means  merely  that 
the  decision  met  with  its  approval.  It  is,  however, 
worthy  of  note  that  Paul  also  (Gal.  ii.  2-5)  represents 
the  church  as  a  whole  as  supporting  his  position. 

152.  Paul,  however,  adds  one  fact  of  which  Acts  says 
nothing  ;  namely,  that  he  had  also  private  conferences 
with  James,  Peter,  and  John.  He  calls  them  by  the 
indefinite  but  honorable  title  "  those  of  repute"  (Gal. 
ii.  2,6),  the  "pillars"  of  the  church  (ii.  9),  using 
terms  which  applied  to  them  all,  whatever  their  office ; 
and  while  he  stoutly  asserts,  as  his  argument  made 
needful,  that  they  added  nothing  to  his  apostolic 
authority  or  teaching,  records  that  they  gave  to  him 
and  Barnabas  the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  and  agreed 
that,  in  accordance  with  God's  manifest  will,  he  and 
Barnabas  should  go  to  the  Gentiles  while  they  labored 
among  the  Jews.  His  was  the  "  gospel  of  the  uncir- 
cumcision,"  while  Peter's  was  that  "  of  the  circumci- 
sion"  (ii.  7).     These  phrases  do  not  describe  different 


COUNCIL  AT  JERUSALEM  145 

gospels,  but  the  two  spheres  in  which  the  same  gospel 
was  to  be  carried.  Paul's  description  of  the  confer- 
ences is  a  notable  addition  to  Luke's  narrativ'e.  Yet 
it  was  most  natural  that  they  should  have  been  held. 
We  can  hardly  conceive  of  their  not  being  held  between 
such  men.  The  failure  of  Luke  to  mention  them  was 
obviously  due  to  the  fact  that  they  were  not  part  of 
the  public  history  of  the  transaction  which  he  was  nar- 
rating. Paul  mentions  them  only  because  it  was  after- 
wards charged  in  Galatia  that  the  leaders  of  the 
mother  church  were  opposed  to  him.  In  like  manner 
the  request  of  James,  Peter,  and  John  tliat  he  should 
remember  the  poor  (Gal.  ii.  10)  was  evidently  occa- 
sioned by  his  previous  visit  with  the  gifts  from 
Antioch,  and  by  their  fear  lest  with  a  division  of 
fields  of  labor  the  needy  Judeans  might  suffer.  It  is 
not  mentioned  by  Luke,  because  it  was  purely  a  per- 
sonal request. 
^^153.  Moreover,  the  fact  that  for  the  decision  of  this 
question  a  council  was  held  throws  incidental  light 
on  the  organization  of  the  church.  As  already  stated 
(sect.  103),  the  apostles  had  before  this  time  de- 
volved the  ordinary  government  of  the  churches  on 
the  local  eldership.  Those  of  the  apostles  who  were 
present  sat  indeed  in  the  council  in  virtue  of  their 
apostolic  office,  and  are  mentioned  as  a  first  and  sep- 
arate class  in  the  letter  which  the  council  prepared 
(xv.  23) ;  but  they  did  not  decide  the  matter  at  issue 
on  apostolic  authority,  for,  while  doctrine  was  in- 
volved, the  question  was  in  form  ecclesiastical.  Should 
the  Gentile  converts  be  required  to  observe  the  law 
(xv.  5)  as  the  condition  of  fellowship  ?  'Men  might 
agree   on   the  same  answer  for  different   reasons,  or 


/^ 


146  JUDAIC   CHRISTIANITY 

might  differ  in  the  answer  though  agreeing  on  the 
main  point.  Moreover,  even  in  the  earliest  period  the 
apostles  had  called  out  the  action  of  the  brethren  in 
determining  the  organization  of  the  church  (Acts  i.  16, 
23 ;  vi.  3-6) ;  much  more,  now  that  the  organization 
was  complete,  would  the  authority  of  the  elders  be 
recognized.  The  mode  of  procedure  followed  is  there- 
fore not  inconsistent  with  the  authority  of  the  apostles 
which  we  have  found  existing  from  the  beginning.  It 
is  to  be  observed  also  that  the  Jerusalem  church,  acting- 
through  the  council,  appears  to  have  been  regarded  as 
the  supreme  court  of  the  Christians  in  Palestine  and 
Syria.  Hence  the  appeal  to  it  by  the  brethren  in 
Antioch  and  by  the  Judaizers.  Hence,  too,  the  authori- 
tative language  of  the  letter  which  the  council  wrote 
(xv.  28).  The  most  natural  explanation  of  this  is 
that  the  eldership  of  Jerusalem  was  considered,  by  the 
Judaic  Christians  and  by  the  mixed  churches  of  Syria 
which  had  originated  from  Jewish  missions,  in  much 
the  same  light  in  which  the  Sanhedrim  of  Jerusalem 
was  by  the  Jews.  This  was  only  the  further  carrying 
over  into  the  Christian  churches  of  the  synagogal 
system  of  which  the  Sanhedrim  was  the  head.  We 
shall  find  hereafter  that  in  the  purely  Gentile  churches 
afterwards  founded  by  Paul  the  ecclesiastical  authority 
of  the  Jerusalem  eldership  was  not  recognized.  Wholly 
independent  churches,  bound  only  by  the  common  faith, 
sprang  up.  But  for  the  time  of  which  we  are  treating, 
and  for  the  parties  engaged  in  the  discussion,  the  elder- 
ship of  Jerusalem  constituted  the  recognized  head  of 
the  Christian  synagogues. 

154.   The  addresses  made   in  the   council  are  also 
worthy  of  special  notice.     Peter  (xv.  7-11)  strongly 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  COUNCIL  147 

maintained  the  liberty  of  the  Gentiles,  appealing  to 
the  testimony  of  God  in  the  case  of  Cornelius.  Faith, 
he  said,  was  the  only  condition  of  being  purified 
(comp.  X.  15).  He  went  so  far  as  to  speak  of  the  law 
as  an  unbearable  yoke  on  the  Jews  themselves,  since 
they  could  not  really  keep  it ;  and  reminded  the  as- 
sembly that  they  too  depended  for  salvation  solely  on 
the  grace  of  Christ.  This  address  puts  Peter  thor- 
oughly on  Pauline  ground.  The  truthfulness  of  the 
report  is  amply  confirmed  by  Paul's  subsequent  rebuke 
of  Peter  in  Antioch  when  he  faltered  in  the  application 
of  his  acknowledged  principles  (Gal.  ii.  15,  16),  as 
well  as  by  Peter's  later  writings.  Paul  and  Barnabas 
took  part  in  the  proceedings  merely  by  relating  what 
God  had  done  in  attestation  of  the  work  among  the 
Gentiles  (Acts  xv.  12;  comp.  Gal.  ii.  2,7).  It  was 
James,  the  Lord's  brother,  who  made  the  decisive  ad- 
dress (xv.  13-21).  He  was  cautious,  and  anxious  to 
secure  harmony.  Yet  he  admitted  that  the  Lord's 
revelation  to  Peter  practically  settled  the  matter.  He 
spoke,  however,  of  the  Gentile  converts  as  an  addition 
to  Israel,  such  as  Amos  (ix.  11,  12)  had  predicted. 
He  thus  recognized  the  special  privileges  of  the  Jews. 
Yet  to  them  Gentiles  were  to  be  added,  and  they  should 
accept  it  as  God's  will.  Hence  he  judged  that  no 
further  burden  should  be  laid  on  the  Gentiles  than  that 
they  should  abstain  from  certain  pollutions ;  namely, 
the  food  offered  to  idols,  fornication,  things  strangled, 
and  blood.  These  conditions  of  fellowship  he  insisted 
on,  because  they  would  do  much  to  prevent  offence  being 
given  to  the  Jews  by  the  uncircumcised  converts. 

155.   James'  address,  therefore,  unlike  Peter's,  was 
conservative   and  prudential.      Both  singularly  corre- 


148  JUDAIC  CHRISTIANITY 

spond  with  the  characters  of  the  two  men.  They  show 
differences  of  temperament  and  of  points  of  view,  while 
agreeing  on  the  main  issue.  James'  address  and  the 
letter  drawn  up  at  his  suggestion  have  also  some  strik- 
ing verbal  resemblances  to  the  language  of  his  epistle 
(comp.  XV.  23  with  Jas.  i.  1  ;  xv.  17  with  Jas.  ii.  7  ; 
XV.  13  with  Jas.  ii.  5;  xv.  14  with  Jas.  i.  27;  xv.  19 
with  Jas.  V.  19,  20  ;  xv.  29  with  Jas.  i.  27).  Both  ad- 
dress and  epistle  show  his  thoroughly  Jewish  as  well 
as  Christian  character  ;  and  the  writer  of  the  epistle, 
who  makes  faith  the  essence  of  true  religion,  urges  on 
Jewish  disciples  a  spiritual  interpretation  of  the  law, 
warns  them  against  faults  peculiar  to  them  as  Jews, 
and  writes  not  a  word  concerning  their  national  hopes, 
was  quite  the  man  to  take  the  position  which  is  nar- 
rated of  him  in  the  council.  He  cannot  tlierefore,  any 
more  than  Peter,  be  classed  with  the  Judaizers. 

156.  The  result  of  the  deliberations  was  that  a  let- 
ter, addressed  in  the  name  of  the  apostles  and  elders 
to  the  Gentile  believers  in  Antioch,  Syria,  and  Cilicia, 
was  sent  by  the  hands  of  Silas  and  Judas  Barsabbas, 
two  of  the  leading  men  of  the  Jerusalem  church  (xv. 
22-29).  In  it  the  council  repudiated  the  Judaizers, 
spoke  in  cordial  terms  of  Barnabas  and  Paul,  and 
briefly  declared  that  it  was  the  mind  of  the  Spirit 
and  of  themselves  to  lay  nothing  further  on  the  Gen- 
tiles than  the  four  acts  of  abstinence  which  James 
had  suggested  and  which  they  considered  necessary. 
This  was  certainly  not  a  compromise  with  the  Juda- 
izers. The  freedom  of  Gentiles  from  the  law  was  fully 
conceded.  At  the  same  time  the  council  protected  the 
feelings  of  the  Jews  against  what  the  latter  regarded 
as  abominations  of  the  Gentiles.    The  decree  laid  down 


THE  FOUR  ACTS  OF  ABSTINENCE  149 

no  doctrine.  It  confined  itself  to  terms  of  fellowship. 
It  established  a  modus  vivendi.  In  granting  freedom 
from  the  law,  the  council  felt  that  it  acted  in  accord- 
ance with  the  evident  will  of  the  Spirit ;  but  it  seemed 
to  it  absolutely  necessary  that  this  freedom  should  in 
no  way  appear  to  Jewish  eyes  to  sully  the  Christian 
name  by  the  introduction  of  offensive  pagan  customs. 

157.  The  requirement  of  these  four  special  forms  of 
abstinence  raises,  however,  several  difficulties.  For 
instance,  it  appears  strange  that  fornication  should  be 
classed  with  things  ethically  indifferent.  Just  this 
strangeness,  however,  is  an  assurance  that  the  re- 
port is  authentic ;  and  the  difficulty  is  removed  when 
it  is  observed  that  the  acts  of  abstinence  were  de- 
manded solely  in  order  not  to  offend  Jews.  The  in- 
trinsic quality  of  the  acts  themselves  did  not  come 
into  consideration.  Now,  fornication  was  regarded  by 
the  Jews,  as  well  it  might  be  (comp.  Lecky^  Hist,  of 
Eur.  Morals,  ch.  v.),  as  a  typical  pagan  custom.  It  was 
often  sanctified  by  pagan  religions,  and  nowhere  more 
so  than  in  western  Asia.  It  was  too  often  regarded 
with  indifference  in  Groeco-Roman  society.  It  there- 
fore would  naturally  be  mentioned  by  a  Jew  as  a 
threatened  Gentile  abomination.  Another  difficulty  is 
raised  by  the  apparent  identity  of  abstinence  from 
things  strangled  and  from  blood.  Efforts  to  remove 
this  obscurity  by  altering  the  text  of  the  Acts  may  be 
traced  as  far  back  as  the  second  century.  Perhaps 
the  best  explanation  is  that  the  second  of  these  two 
prohibitions  was  intended  to  state  the  general  principle 
of  which  eating  things  strangled  was  the  commonest 
example,  and  so  both  to  cover  other  instances  and  to 
state  fully  the  principle  itself. 


150  JUDAIC   CHRISTIANITY 

158.  But  it  is  more  important  to  notice  the  motive 
of  the  decree  as  a  whole.  It  has  often  been  main- 
tained that  it  exacted  of  Gentile  converts  the  same 
requirements  made  by  Jews  on  "  strangers,"  or,  as 
they  were  afterwards  called,  "  proselytes  of  the  gate," 
who  observed  the  so-called  "  precepts  of  Noah,"  but 
were  not  recognized  as  belonging  to  Israel.  It  is  quite 
doubtful,  however,  if,  at  the  time  of  the  council,  there 
was  any  code  of  requirements  for  such  adherents  of 
Judaism,  or  if  there  was  any  such  class  of  proselytes 
recognized  at  all  {Schurer,  HJP.  11.  2.  317).  Outside 
of  proselytes  proper,  the  Gentile  followers  of  Judaism 
varied  greatly  in  the  degree  in  which  they  adopted 
Jewish  customs.  Moreover,  the  so-called  "  Noachic 
precepts,"  mentioned  by  later  writers,  were  seven  in 
number  (comp.  Hort,  Jud.  Christianity,  p.  69).  It  is 
a  more  plausible  supposition  that  the  acts  of  abstinence 
were  suggested  by  the  prohibitions  for  "  the  stranger," 
which  are  found  in  Leviticus  xvii.,  xviii.  Yet  even 
these  do  not  coincide  precisely  with  those  of  the  decree, 
though  they  may  well  have  been  at  the  basis  of  the 
Jewish  abhorrence  of  the  acts  which  the  decree 
forbade.  Any  view  which  assumes  that  the  Gentile 
converts  were  not  recognized  by  the  council  as  full 
members  of  the  church  is  inconsistent  with  the  whole 
tenor  of  the  decree  and  with  Paul's  acceptance  of  its 
provisions.  Its  motive  was  to  prevent  offence  to  the 
Jews  who  dwelt  in  every  city,  and  the  simplest  ex- 
planation is  that  these  four  things  were  prohibited 
because  they  were  the  Gentile  customs  which  were 
most  abhorrent  in  Jewish  eyes. 

159.  Yet,  even  so,  can  we  believe  that  the  decree 
with  these  prohibitions  was  accepted  by  Paul,  and  that, 


PAUL   AND  THE   COUNCIL  151 

as  Acts  xvi.  4  records,  he  delivered  it  to  the  churches 
previously  founded  by  him  and  Barnabas  ?  As  already 
observed,  he  does  not  mention  it  in  his  Galatian  epistle. 
Moreover,  in  Romans  xiv.  13-23  and  I.  Corinthians  viii. 
and  X.  23-33,  where  he  discusses  the  use  of  food  offered 
to  idols,  he  does  not  refer  to  the  decision  of  the  council, 
but  argues  the  subject  independently,  and  boldly  asserts 
that  the  use  of  such  food  is  in  itself  a  matter  of  indif- 
ference. Fornication  likewise  he  treats  as  inherently 
and  always  wrong  {e.g.  I.  Cor.  vi.  18).  These  facts 
have  seemed  to  some  to  prove  that  he  could  not  have 
accepted  or  even  known  of  the  decree.  The  inference 
has  also  been  drawn  that  the  decree  was  either  never 
issued  or  was  issued  at  a  later  time  and  erroneously 
attributed  by  Luke  to  the  council.  But  this  is  to  do 
injustice  to  so  accurate  an  historian  as  Luke,  and  the 
apparent  difficulties  are  capable  of  satisfactory  expla- 
nation. For,  in  regard  to  Paul's  acceptance  of  the 
decree,  it  should  be  remembered  that  he  had  gained 
his  main  point  and  would  not  be  likely  to  refuse  to  do 
his  part  toward  securing .  harmony.  That  would  be 
quite  contrary  to  all  that  we  know  of  his  disposition 
(I.  Cor.  ix.  19-23).  It  should  further  be  noted  that 
the  churches  to  which  he  delivered  the  decree  (Acts 
xvi.  4)  were  founded  by  him  and  Barnabas  on  their 
mission  from  Antioch.  They  were  doubtless  regarded 
as  an  extension  of  the  work  in  Antioch,  and  so  shared 
in  the  recognition  of  the  «uthority  of  tlie  mother 
church.  Within  the  sphere  therefore  which  the  church 
then  covered,  the  authority  of  the  council  would  be 
admitted,  and,  since  the  freedom  of  Gentile  converts 
had  been  acknowledged,  there  was  nothing  in  Paul's 
character  or  doctrine  which  makes  it  improbable  that 


152  JUDAIC   CHRISTIANITY 

he  accepted  for  those  whom  he  represented  the  condi- 
tions imposed. 
N/  160.  Tlie  churches,  however,  founded  by  Paul  after 
the  council  in  his  missionary  work  stood  in  a  different 
relation  to  the  church  of  Jerusalem.  It  is  possible  that 
the  activity  of  the  Judaizers  in  Antioch  convinced  him 
that  it  was  better  to  have  his  churches  independent. 
It  is  possible  that  the  agreement  with  James,  Peter, 
and  John  at  the  time  of  the  council  that  he  and  Barna- 
bas should  go  to  the  Gentiles,  was  understood  to  place 
his  new  churches  on  an  independent  basis.  At  any 
rate,  their  independence  is  evident.  He  treats  them 
in  his  epistles,  not  only  as  his  own  spiritual  offspring, 
but  as  separate  societies  who  owned  the  superiority  of 
no  other  church.  All  were  indeed  united  in  one  great 
spiritual  body  in  Christ,  and  he  stimulated  one  by  the 
example  of  others.  He  especially  kept  them  mindful 
of  their  confraternity  with  (I.  Thess.  ii.  14 ;  Eph.  ii. 
11-22)  and  their  indebtedness  to  (Rom.  xv.  26,  27) 
the  churches  of  Judea ;  but  there  is  not  a  hint  that 
the  authority  of  the  Jerusalem  eldership  was  recog- 
nized by  them.  In  fact,  as  we  shall  find,  this  was  a 
point  on  which  he  resisted  the  intrusions  of  the  Juda- 
izers into  his  territory  (Gal,  ii.  6 ;  II.  Cor.  iii.  1). 
Hence  it  is  not  surprising  that  he  does  not  refer  to  the 
decree,  but  instructs  his  converts  independently.  The 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians  is  the  one  in  which  such  a 
reference  would  be  mosf  expected,  since  he  there  de- 
scribes his  visit  to  Jerusalem  at  the  time  of  the  coun- 
cil ;  but  since  he  alludes  to  the  council  only  indirectly, 
and  confines  himself  to  the  single  point  of  the  recog- 
nition by  the  church  of  his  authority  and  teaching,  it 
is  hardly  surprising  that  he  omits  also  all  reference  to 


INDEPENDENCE  OF  PAULINE  CHURCHES         153 

the  decree.  The  Judaizers  themselves  had  violated  the 
compact  by  denying  the  freedom  from  the  law  which 
the  council  had  granted,  and  the  whole  discussion  had 
reverted  to  the  original  question  of  circumcision.  It 
is,  however,  still  more  important  to  observe  that  in  his 
instructions  about  food  offered  to  idols,  Paul  acted  pre- 
cisely on  the  principle  on  which  the  prohibitions  of  the 
decree  were  based,  namely,  that  offence  should  not  be 
given.  The  situation  in  Corinth  was  very  different 
from  that  in  Antioch.  There  the  ditRculty  in  the  use 
of  food  offered  to  idols  lay  in  the  danger  of  participat- 
ing in  heathen  festivals  and  of  wounding  the  conscience 
of  the  newly  converted  Gentile  brother.  Paul  main- 
tains the  entire  moral  indifference  of  the  act  of  eating 
such  food  (I.  Cor.  viii.  4-6),  but  he  warmly  urges  the 
principle  that  abstinence  for  the  sake  of  others  is  often 
the  dictate  of  Christian  love  (I.  Cor.  viii.  7-13  ;  Rom. 
xiv.  21).  He  seems  even  to  broaden  intentionally  the 
principle  of  the  council  when  he  wrote,  "  Give  no  occa- 
sion of  stumbling,  either  to  Jews,  or  to  Greeks,  or  to  the 
church  of  God"  (I.  Cor.  x.  32).  It  is  thus  clear  that 
on  his  declared  principles  we  should  expect  to  find  him 
accepting  the  decree  for  those  under  the  authority  of 
the  council ;  while  the  instructions  to  his  own  separate 
churches  show  how  sincere  was  his  harmony  of  spirit 
with  the  apostles  and  elders  at  Jerusalem. 

161.  Thus  Judaic  Christianity  performed  its  greatest 
service  by  acknowledging  at  tliis  critical  juncture  the 
freedom  of  Gentile  converts  from  the  Mosaic  law.  It 
was  the  triumph  of  loyalty  to  tlie  manifest  will  of  God 
achieved  in  the  face  of  enormous  prejudice.  The 
Judaizing  minority  had  in  their  favor  all  the  instincts 
and  traditions  of  their  race.     It  would  seem  that  the 


154  JUDAIC  CHRISTIANITY 

action  of  the  council  can  only  be  explained  by  the  pre- 
vious occurrence  of  such  facts  indicative  of  the  will  of 
God  as  the  Acts  relates.  Even  the  teaching  of  Jesus, 
though  it  plainly  foretold  the  conversion  of  the  Gen- 
tiles and  even  the  rejection  of  the  Jews  (e.  g.  Matt.  viii. 
10,  11),  and  though  its  spirit  was  wholly  opposed  to 
Jewish  exclusiveness,  required  further  revelations  of 
the  will  of  God  to  cause  it  to  be  interpreted  as  reliev- 
ing believers  from  the  observance  of  the  law.  The 
mother  church  recognized  the  manifest  will  of  God, 
and  by  following  it  made  room,  at  the  cost  of  its  own 
pre-eminence,  for  the  full  development  of  the  faith. 
Foi  her  decision  involved  the  fundamental  principle 
that  faith  alone  was  the  condition  of  salvation.  The 
law  might  still  be  obligatory  on  Jews,  but  it  could  not 
be  the  means  of  salvation.  This  was  fully  realized  by 
Paul,  and  explains  why  he  would  not  yield  a  moment 
to  the  Judaizers.  Yet  how  intense  the  feeling  of  the 
Jewish  Christians  was,  through  what  a  conflict  the 
result  was  reached,  and  what  variety  of  opinion  still 
existed  concerning  the  authority  of  the  law,  appears 
from  an  incident  which  occurred  at  Antioch  not  long 
after  the  adjournment  of  the  council. 

162.  For  when  the  deputation  returned ,  to  Antioch 
with  the  commissioners  and  the  letter  of  the  council, 
they  were  received  with  joy.  Silas  and  Judas  heartily 
explained  the  council's  action,  and  after  a  brief  sojourn 
returned  to  Jerusalem.  For  a  while  peace  seemed  to 
be  assured  ;  and  this  appeared  the  more  probable  when 
Peter  himself  visited  Antioch  and  freely  ate  with  the 
Gentile  brethren,  doubtless  at  their  love  feasts,  on 
terms  of  perfect  equality  (Gal.  ii.  12).  We  must  cer- 
tainly place  this  incident  here,  because  Paul  plainly 


PETER  AT   ANTIOCn  155 

assigns  it  to  the  period  following  the  council  and  yet 
mentions  Barnabas  as  present,  though  the  latter  left 
Antioch  shortly  before  Paul's  second  journey  (Acts  xv. 
39).  We  may  well  believe  that  Peter's  generous  nature 
rejoiced  in  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles  and  was 
anxious  to  prove  by  acts  the  sincerity  of  the  position 
he  had  taken  at  the  council.  The  disregard  of  Jewish 
scruples  had  long  prevailed  in  Antioch,  and  Paul  and 
Barnabas  had  not  only  defended  the  liberty  of  the 
Gentiles,  but  considered  themselves  free  to  observe 
the  ritual  law  or  not  as  they  might  deem  best  (comp. 
I.  Cor.  ix.  20,  21).  This  attitude  Peter  also  was  now 
willing  to  take. 

163.  The  peace  of  the  church  in  Antioch  was,  how- 
ever, again  disturbed.  Certain  men  came  there  who 
had  been  sent  from  Jerusalem  by  James  (Gal.  ii.  12). 
There  is  no  hint  that  they  had  been  sent  to  play  the 
spy  on  the  Jews  in  Antioch,  still  less  that  they  were 
Judaizers,  nor  that  they  bore  any  missive  from  James. 
It  is  probable  that  they  had  been  sent  by  him  on  an 
evangelizing  mission  among  the  Jews  of  Syria ;  hut 
their  presence  led  Peter  and  even  Barnabas  as  well  as 
the  other  Jewish  Christians  to  withdraw  from  fellow- 
ship with  the  Gentiles.  This  shows  the  intense  feeling 
on  the  part  of  the  main  body  of  the  Jewish  Church 
against  the  violation  by  any  Jew  of  the  ceremonial  law. 
The  council  had  accepted  the  Gentile  converts  as 
brethren,  but  had  never  intimated  that  the  law  was 
not  binding  on  Jews ;  and  though  a  minority  might 
feel  relieved  from  it,  the  convictions  of  the  vast  major- 
ity were  the  other  way.  Possibly,  too,  the  action  of 
the  council  made  the  Jewish  Christians  more  earnest 
in  their  own  loyalty  to  the  law  ;  and  it  would  seem  a 


156  .JUDAIC  CHRISTIANITY 

fair  inference  that  James,  though  fully  In  sympathy 
with  Gentile  freedom,  supported  the  popular  sentiment 
that  Jews  ought  to  be  faithful  to  their  national  cus- 
toms. It  is  not  hard  to  understand  this.  The  Jewish 
Christians  were  anxious  not  to  appear  to  their  fellow- 
countrymen  disloyal  to  Moses.  They  themselves  shared 
the  national  and  traditional  spirit.  The  new  faith  must 
be  shown  to  be  harmonious  with  the  older  revelation, 
and  few  could  believe  this  if  the  sacred  laws  were  cast 
aside  by  Jews  themselves.  So  the  sentiment  was  over- 
powering that  Jewish  Christians  should  be  faithful  to 
the  Mosaic  law.  Peter  and  even  Barnabas  may  easily 
have  thought,  in  view  of  this  state  of  feeling,  that  they 
would  destroy  their  influence  among  their  countrymen, 
if  their  free  intercourse  with  Gentiles  were  known.  It 
was  at  least  quite  in  accord  with  Peter's  impulsive 
character  that,  as  he  had  broken  the  bonds  of  Judaism 
through  his  sympathy  with  the  Gentiles,  he  should  has- 
ten to  fasten  them  again  upon  himself  through  fear  of 
offending  his  Jewish  brethren. 

164.  But  he  found  in  Paul  a  remorseless  logician  and 
a  fearless  champion  of  faith.  Peter's  conduct  had  been 
generally  condemned  in  Antioch  (Gal.  ii.  11,  R.  V.) 
and  a  scandal  was  threatened  by  it.  If  he  had  never 
consorted  with  Gentiles,  no  fault  would  have  been  found 
with  him.  But  by  doing  so  he  had  publicly  declared 
that  faith  alone  was  the  condition  of  salvation;  and 
now  by  withdrawing  he  virtually  declared  that  he  had 
been  wrong.  He  seemed  to  imply  practically  that  all. 
Gentiles  as  well  as  Jews,  ought  to  observe  the  law. 
For  this  Paul  took  him  publicly  to  task.  He  gives  a 
summary  of  his  rebuke  in  Galatians  ii.  14-21.  "  Why," 
he  asked,  "  do  you  thus  compel  Gentiles  to  Judaize  ?  " 


THE   THEOLOGY   OF  FREEDOM  157 

He  reminded  Peter  that  they  both,  though  Jews,  had 
sought  justification  through  faith  alone  in  Christ  and 
on  the  ground  explicitly  that  by  the  works  of  the  law 
none  could  be  justified.  Could  they  have  been  wrong 
in  this  ?  Did  Christ  lead  them  into  sin  ?  Nay ;  a  man 
who  builds  what  he  has  destroyed  shows  himself  to  be 
the  transgressor.  Then  Paul  stated  the  doctrine  of 
salvation  as  he  knew  it  and  as  Peter  must  confess  it. 
The  law  had  made  Christ's  death  necessary,  but  by 
that  death  it  had  been  wholly  satisfied.  In  that  death 
Paul  himself  had  died,  so  that  the  demands  of  the  law 
had  been  met  by  him  in  Christ.  He  now  lived  as 
reconciled  to  God,  the  power  of  Christ  working  in  him 
to  do  God's  will,  and  he  living  by  faith  in  the  Son 
of  God  who  had  died  for  him.  Hence  to  regard  observ- 
ance of  law  as  necessary  for  the  salvation  of  any 
believer,  whether  Jew  or  Gentile,  was  to  imply  that 
Christ  had  died  in  vain. 

165.  This  address  not  only  discloses  Paul's  theologi- 
cal position  (comp.  sects.  84-89),  but  throws  light  from 
the  inside  on  the  whole  controversy  about  circumcision. 
The  doctrinal  principle,  involved  in  the  ecclesiastical 
question  before  the  council,  is  now  made  plain.  The 
significance  of  the  death  of  Christ  lay  in  its  satisfaction 
of  the  divine  law  for  the  sinner ;  and  just  so  far  as  this 
was  realized,  was  the  law  seen  to  have  fulfilled  its 
purpose  as  a  religious  system.  Its  moral  principles 
were  to  be  now  embodied  in  life  by  the  believer,  not  in 
order  to  be  saved  by  obedience  to  them,  but  out  of  love 
for  God,  to  whom  he  had  already  been  reconciled  by 
Christ's  obedience  to  and  satisfaction  of  the  law.  Its 
ceremonial  acts  need  not  be  performed  at  all,  or  only  as 
other  considerations  might  make  advisable;  for  they 


158  JUDAIC  CHRISTIANITY 

were  but  the  shadow  of  the  reality,  namely,  Christ.  In 
proportion  as  this  was  realized,  the  death-blow  was 
given  to  Judaism.  Christianity  could  not  be  perma- 
nently Judaic.  It  could  never  be  Judaistic.  Jewish 
Christians  might  still  observe  their  law,  but  only  as 
Jews,  not  as  Christians.  The  principle  of  faith  thus 
wrought  out  its  logical  consequences  in  the  history; 
while  through  the  realization  of  the  nature  of  Messiah's 
death  the  sufficiency  of  faith  was  rationally  grounded. 
A  crucified  Messiah  and  salvation  by  faith  were  found 
to  be  necessarily  conjoined.  The  outward  movement 
of  events,  whereby  faith  had  been  proved  to  be  the  only 
condition  of  salvation  which  God  required,  united,  with 
the  growing  perception  of  the  meaning  of  the  Cross,  to 
create  universal  Christianity.  The  issue  was  thus  the 
result  of  the  working  out  of  the  fundamental  truths  of 
the  gospel  by  the  combined  operation  of  both  history 
and  logic.  Though  further  conflict  was  to  follow,  the 
result  could  no  longer  be  doubtful. 

166.  We  know  nothing  of  the  immediate  effect  of 
Paul's  rebuke  of  his  fellow-apostle.  The  most  natural 
inference  is  that  Peter  acknowledged  his  error.  It  was 
not  an  error  of  teaching  but  of  conduct,  and  he  was  quite 
the  man  to  confess  his  faults.  This  inference  is  con- 
firmed by  the  thoroughly  Pauline  character  of  his  teacli- 
ing  in  his  epistles.  Certainly  there  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  the  rebuke  caused  dissension  between  the 
apostles,  or  that  it  was  the  cause  of  the  suspicion  with 
which  Paul  was  regarded  for  a  long  time  by  many  Jewish 
Christians  (Acts  xxi.  21).  Neither  is  it  surprising  that 
Luke  does  not  mention  the  incident,  as  there  is  no  reason 
to  regard  it  as  in  itself  more  than  a  local  and  unimportant 
event.     Apart  from  the  light  thrown  by  it  on  the  theo- 


JUDAIC  ADMISSION  OF  GENTILE  LIBERTY       159 

logical  position  of  the  two  apostles,  its  chief  interest  lies 
in  the  fact  that  it  completes  -  our  view  of  the  condition 
of  Judaic  Christianity  at  the  time  of  the  council. 
The  great  principle  of  Gentile  freedom  was  conceded, 
though  by  the  concession  Judaic  Christianity,  as  both 
Paul  and  the  Judaizcrs  perceived,  was  doomed  to  be 
only  one  phase  of  the  new  religion  and  ultimately  to 
perish  in  giving  birth  to  a  universal  faith. 


JUDAIC   CHRISTIANITY  AFTER    THE    COUNCIL 

167.  Before  tracing  the  further  expansion  of  Gentile 
Christianity  under  the  leadership  of  Paul,  it  is  desirable 
to  sketch  briefly  the  condition  of  Judaic  Christianity  in 
the  years  following  the  council  (a.  d.  60  or  51),  until 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  (a.  d.  70).  The  period 
was  one  of  intense  political  excitement  in  Judea.  Gov- 
ernmental misrule  aroused  repeated  seditions,  and  a 
succession  of  rapacious  procurators  inflamed  the  anger 
and  the  patriotism  of  the  people,  until  the  fires  of  open 
war  broke  out  (see  Riggs,  Hist,  of  the  Jew.  People, 
sects.  276-290).  It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  such  a 
period  of  violent  civil  agitation  was  not  without  its 
effect  upon  the  disciples  individually  and  upon  the 
progress  of  the  Church. 

168.  Amid  this  political  ferment,  however,  little  in- 
formation can  be  gained  of  the  condition  of  the  Judaic 
Christians.  Josephus  is  silent  concerning  them,  and 
the  only  relevant  statement  in  Acts  is  the  language  of 
James  to  Paul  at  the  latter's  last  visit  to  Jerusalem 
(Acts  xxi.  20-25).  This,  however,  is  quite  significant. 
We  learn  that  the  Christians  numbered  thousands  of 
the  population  of  the  city.  They  seem  to  have  been 
recruited  mainly  from  the  humbler  classes  of  society, 
for  Paul's  zeal  in  securing  contributions  for  them  from 
his  Gentile  churches  implies  that  most  of  them  were 


ZEALOUS   FOR   THE   LAW  161 

poor  1 II.  Cor.  ix.  12).  Yet  doubtless  not  a  few  of  the 
Pharisees,  as  at  an  earlier  period  (Acts  xv.  5),  united 
with  them.  The  Sadducees  were  in  power  in  the  state, 
and  concerned  chiefly  with  political  intrigues.  The 
fanatical  patriots,  such  as  the  Zealots,  could  have  had 
little  patience  with  the  Christian  faith.  It  was  natur- 
ally the  more  religious  and  peaceful  class  to  whom  the 
message  of  Jesus  continued  to  appeal,  and  who,  amid 
the  agitations  of  society,  felt  the  worth  of  his  spiritual 
teaching  and  waited  for  his  return. 

169.  The  disciples  in  general  appear  to  have  kept 
aloof  from  the  political  strife  of  their  fellow-country- 
men. Such  would  be  the  effect  of  James'  influence 
(Jas.  iv.  1-10),  and  the  same  attitude  would  seem  to 
be  implied  in  the  tradition  that  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  the  church  fled  from  Jerusalem  to  Pella.  The 
teaching  of  Jesus  also  would  operate  in  the  same  direc- 
tion (Matt.  xxiv.  16-21).  At  the  same  time  the  disci- 
ples could  not  have  failed  to  feel  the  momentous  crisis 
through  which  the  nation  was  passing,  and  thereby 
devotion  to  the  law  was  rather  intensified  than  dimin- 
ished. James  explicitly  says  of  them,  "they  are  all 
zealous  for  the  law  "  (Acts  xxi.  20).  Perhaps  this  was 
increased  by  the  suspicion  with  which  they  were  re- 
garded, as  well  as  by  their  own  patriotism.  Their  sit- 
uation must  have  been  a  difficult  one.  While  the  perils 
which  beset  the  state  may  have  aided,  as  times  of  dis- 
tress often  have,  the  progress  of  the  faith,  the  disciples 
must  have  been  sorely  distraught  by  the  contending 
claims  of  the  old  patriotism  and  the  new  belief.  Most 
of  them  showed,  by  intense  devotion  to  the  law,  that  at 
least  they  were  not  faithless  to  the  traditions  of  the 
fathers. 

11 


162  JUDAIC  CHRISTIANITY 

170.  Moreover,  James'  words  show  that  the  Judaic 
disciples  were  not  all  of  one  mind  with  respect  to  the 
Christianity  which  was  spreading  among  the  Gentiles. 
Especially  had  misrepresentations  about  Paul  circu- 
lated among  them  (Acts  xxi.  21).  The  misunder- 
standing was  not  shared  by  James  and  the  leaders 
(xxi.  24).  They  abode  by  the  decision  of  the  council 
(xxi.  25),  recognized  the  liberty  of  Gentiles,  and  as- 
sumed that  Jews  would  observe  the  law  ;  but  many 
believed  that  Paul  was  teaching  Jews  that  they  ought 
not  to  follow  the  national  customs  (xxi.  21),  and  the 
prejudice  against  him  was  shared  by  the  non-Christian 
Jews.  The  opposition  of  the  latter  to  his  work  among 
the  Gentiles  (comp.  I.  Thess.  ii.  14-16)  increased,  we 
may  believe,  their  hostility  to  the  Judaic  Christians, 
and  made  the  latter  in  turn  more  sensitive  about  the 
reports  which  were  circulated  of  him.  Hence  it  is  not 
difficult  to  believe  that,  as  his  epistles  testify,  the  Ju- 
daizing  party  did  not  cease  after  the  Council  to  propa- 
gate their  views.  He  was  the  special  object  of  their 
aversion,  and  against  him  and  his  work  they  instituted 
a  widespread  campaign  at  home  and  abroad.  We  shall 
meet  with  them  again  and  again  in  following  his  labors. 
They  misrepresented  him  to  his  Gentile  converts  as 
they  did  to  the  Jerusalem  church.  We  are  here  con- 
cerned with  them,  however,  only  in  their  relation  to 
Judaic  Christianity.  The  situation  of  the  latter  dis- 
closes the  conditions  out  of  which  the  activity  of  the 
Judaizers  arose  and  by  which  it  was  fostered.  It  is 
plain  that  diverse  opinions  and  tendencies  existed 
among  the  disciples  in  Judea,  ranging  from  James  with 
his  spiritual  interpretation  of  the  law  and  his  cordial 
appreciation  of  the  work  among  the  Gentiles,  through 


DEATH   OF  JAMES  AND  FLIGHT  TO   PELLA       163 

many  grades  of  more  or  less  adequate  comprehension 
of  the  relation  of  the  old  to  the  new,  down  to  nominally 
Christian  Jews  who  saw  in  Christianity  only  a  new 
method  of  extending  Judaism;  and  it  is  plain  also 
that  these  varieties  of  opinion  insured  the  ultimate 
division  of  Judaic  Christianity  according  as  it  fol- 
lowed the  logic  of  the  faith  or  the  prejudice  of  national 
tradition. 

171.  Apart  from  the  narrative  of  the  Acts,  only  two 
events  have  been  preserved  from  this  period  of  Judaic 
Christianity.  One  is  the  death  of  James,  of  which  an 
account  has  already  been  given  (sect.  130).  It  oc- 
curred probably  in  a.  d.  62,  and  indicates  the  increasing 
hostility  of  the  Jewish  authorities  against  the  Chris- 
tians. When  this  devout  son  of  the  law,  who 
although  a  Christian  was  honored  for  piety  alike  by 
believer  and  unbeliever,  fell  before  the  hatred  of  the 
Sadducaic  high-priest,  it  was  made  evident  that  even  a 
purely  Jewish  Christianity  could  not  continue  long  to 
exist  within  the  limits  of  Judaism,  and  that  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  disciples  from  their  Hebrew  countrymen 
was  steadily  advancing  in  spite  of  their  zeal  for  the 
law.  The  other  event  is  the  flight  of  the  church  from 
Jerusalem  to  Pella,  a  town  in  the  northern  part  of 
Perea,  shortly  before  or  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
{Ens.  HE.  IH.  5  ;  Fpiphanius,  De  pond,  et  mens.  15). 
Eusebius  states  that  this  was  in  accordance  with  a 
revelation  vouchsafed  to  approved  men  before  the  war. 
Possibly  the  fact  was  that  Christ's  prediction  and  in- 
struction (Matt,  xxiv.,  especially  verses  16-21)  was  the 
cause  of  the  flight.  But  the  latter  is  mainly  signifi- 
cant because  it  was  practically  the  final  separation  of 
the  church  from  the  fortunes  of  Judaism.     It  confirms 


164  JUDAIC   CHRISTIANITY 

the  impression  that  many  of  the  Christians  held  aloof 
from  the  political  agitations  of  the  Jewish  state.  They 
believed  that  the  judgment  of  God  was  impending  over 
their  nation  for  its  rejection  of  the  Christ.  We  do 
not  know  how  much  of  the  church  thus  separated  from 
the  fortunes  of  the  nation  ;  but  the  part  that  did  acted 
in  accordance  with  the  teaching  and  spirit  of  Jesus, 
while  the  remainder,  choosing  Judaism  rather  than 
Christianity,  perished  as  a  body  from  Christian  his- 
tory, as  doubtless  most  of  them  perished  literally  amid 
the  ruins  of  their  sacred  city. 

172.  It  is  not  surprising  that,  under  these  circum- 
stances, Judaic  Christianity  remained  theologically  un- 
progressive,  and  that  there  was  even  a  danger  of  the 
disciples'  lapsing  from  the  faith  as  the  refusal  of  Juda- 
ism to  accept  their  Messiah  became  more  and  more 
evident.  This  is  illustrated  by  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews.  The  writer  furnishes  a  profound  exposi- 
tion of  Christianity  from  the  Jewish  point  of  view. 
He  gave  the  true  consolation  for  the  Hebrew  believer 
as  he  saw  himself  excluded  from  the  revered  ritual 
and  the  latter  plainly  doomed  to  utter  overthrow. 
But  it  is  also  clear  that  the  views  of  the  author  were 
not  current  among  the  Christians  of  Judea ;  so  that 
while  the  epistle  registers  an  immense  advance  in  its 
conception  of  the  relation  of  Christianity  to  Judaism, 
it  does  not  indicate  that  this  advance  was  shared  by 
those  to  whom  it  was  addressed.  On  the  contrary, 
while  confident  of  their  faith  (vi.  9,  10  ;  x.  35-39),  the 
author  reproves  them  for  their  immaturity  and  for  not 
realizing  the  truth  which  he  set  forth  (ii.  1-4 ;  iv.  1 ; 
V.  12-14  ;  vi.  8).  The  positive  teaching  of  this  epistle 
can  be  properly  appreciated   only  after  the  work  of 


TRIALS   OF   THE  JEWISH   CHRISTIANS  165 

Paul  has  been  described.  For  the  present  we  merely 
note  its  disclosures  of  the  temptations  and  difficulties 
of  its  readers.  It  implies  that  a  terrible  crisis  was  im- 
pending (x.  5 ;  xiii.  14)  and  that  they  were  being 
tempted  from  the  new  faith  through  discouragement 
due  to  their  surroundings  (iv.  14 :  vi.  4-6  ;  vii.  11 ;  x. 
23-25,  35;  xiii.  13),  With  fainting  hearts  and  many 
forebodings  they  clung  to  their  unseen  Messiah,  while 
from  all  that  their  fathers  had  loved  as  the  ordinance 
of  God  they  were  being  separated.  All  this  prevented 
the  development  of  their  new  faith.  They  were  in 
danger  of  a  subtle  drift  (ii.  1,  R.Y.)  through  unbelief 
(iii.  12).  They  were  still  content  to  debate  the  first 
principles  which  distinguished  a  Jewish  believer  from 
his  countrymen  (v.  12  to  vi.  2).  Instead  of  being  the 
teachers  of  Christianity,  they  had  need  to  be  taught 
the  meaning  of  their  own  Scriptures  (v.  12). 

173,  Thus  Judaic  Christianity  fulfilled  its  real  mis- 
sion by  transmitting  to  the  Gentiles  the  faith  of  the 
apostles.  It  affords  an  example  of  arrested  develop- 
ment. It  was  not  within  the  sphere  of  Judaism  that 
the  religion  of  Jesus,  though  it  sprang  out  of  Jewish 
soil,  could  expand  and  mature.  With  the  fall  of  Jeru- 
salem the  history  of  Judaic  Christianity,  properly 
speaking,  closed.  The  church  did  indeed  eventually 
return  from  Pella,  and  continued  to  the  close  of  the 
century  as  a  Jewish-Christian  body  in  Jerusalem.  We 
are  informed  (^Uus.  HE.  III.  11)  that  Symeon,  a  cousin 
of  Jesus,  was  elected  its  chief  official.  But  the  church 
of  Jerusalem  was  now  shorn  of  all  importance.  Chris- 
tianity had  found  new  centres  elsewhere.  Many  of  the 
Jewish  Christians  united  with  Gentile  churches  ;  others 
dwindled  into  narrow,  dissenting  sects.     Judaic  Chris- 


166  JUDAIC  CHRISTIANITY 

tianity,  as  a  separate  unity  and  power,  had  run  its 
course.  The  further  history  of  the  relation  of  Juda- 
ism to  Christianity  is  a  part  of  the  developing  and  ex- 
panding faith  which  we  shall  review  after  we  have 
followed  the  creative  ministry  of  Paul. 


PART    IV 

EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER 
PAUL 


I 

HISTOEICAL   SOURCES 

174,  The  authorities  for  the  history  of  Paul's  dis- 
tinctive work  are  Acts  (xv.  36  to  the  close)  and  the 
Pauline  epistles.  In  the  former  are  included  the  "  we 
sections  "  (sect.  3),  where  the  narrative  is  especially 
minute  and  full.  As  to  the  epistles  of  Paul,  the  prog- 
ress of  criticism  during  the  last  fifty  years  has  cer- 
tainly resulted  in  their  vindication,  exclusive  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  as  genuine  products  of  the 
apostle.  The  only  ones  of  the  thirteen  claiming  to  be 
Pauline   about  which  serious    question  exists  in  the 

minds  of  any  but  the  most  extreme  critics,  are  those    '^  

to  Timothy  and  Titus.     The  eccentricities  of  individual 
critics  may  be  disregarded  and  the  conclusion  of  more 
sober  scholars  safely  followed.     The    general   results 
obtained  by  B.  Weiss  ("A  Manual  of  Introduction  to      , 
the  New  Testament"),  Salmon  ("  Introduction  to  the      1     - 
New  Testament  "),  Th.  Zahn  ("  Einlcitung  in  das  Ncuc 
Testament "),  and  Godet  ("  Introduction  to  the  New 
Testament.     I.  The  Epistles  of  Paul"),  who  defend  all 
the  thirteen,  should  be  considered  established.     Jiili- 
jjher  ("  Einleitung  in  das  N.  T.")  and  Harnack  ("  Die 
Chronologic   der   altchristlichen   Literatur    bis   Euse- 
bins,"  Vorrede)  in  like  manner  receive  all  except  the  1 
Pastorals.     Tlie  doubt  thrown  on  many  of  these  books 
by  the  Tubingen  school  has  thus  been  dissipated. 


170     EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

175.  The  genuineness  of  the  epistles  to  Timothy 
and  Titus  is  therefore  the  only  matter  to  which  we 
need  pay  special  attention  in  establishing  our  sources 
for  the  history  and  teaching  of  Paul.  Not  a  few 
scholars  refuse  to  receive  them  as  Pauline,  at  least 
in  their  present  form,  and  insist  that  they  were  com- 
posed wholly,  or  for  the  most  part,  by  a  later  writer, 
who  is  dated  variously  from  the  close  of  the  first  to 
the  middle  of  the  second  century,  who  wrote  for  the 
purpose  of  correcting  evils  in  the  church,  and  who 
either  attributed  his  whole  work  to  Paul  to  give  it 
authority,  or  else  possessed  some  brief  notes  written 
by  the  apostle,  which  he  enlarged  by  extensive  inter- 
polations. This  criticism  is  based  on  a  variety  of 
grounds  by  different  writers.  Some  allege  that  the 
epistles  are  plainly  directed  against  second-century 
heresies,  mainly  Gnostic  (I.  Tim.  i.  4,  7,  19  ;  iv.  1-3 ; 
vi.  4,  20;  Tit.  i.  10;  iii.  9;  II.  Tim.  ii.  14,  16,  18,  23; 
iii.  1-7,  13  ;  iv.  3)  ;  others,  that  the  directions  about 
church  government  and  officials  show  the  stress  on 
organization,  if  not  the  development  of  episcopacy, 
which  existed  in  the  early  post-apostolic  age  (I.  Tim. 
iii.  1-10,  15 ;  V.  1-22  ;  Tit.  i.  5-9 ;  iii.  10 ;  II.  Tim.  ii. 
2) ;  others  again,  that  the  tone  of  address  is  not  such 
as  we  would  expect  from  Paul  to  Timothy  and  Titus, 
since  on  the  one  hand  he  vehemently  defends  his 
apostleship  to  them  (I.  Tim.  i.  11-16 ;  ii.  7  ;  II.  Tim. 
ii.  12 ;  iv.  7),  and  on  the  other  hand  instructs  them  in 
the  most  elementary  duties  (I.  Tim.  i.  19 ;  iv.  12  ;  vi. 
11 ;  Tit.  ii.  7;  II.  Tim.  i.  6  ;  ii.  1,  4,  22 ;  iii.  14),  and 
when  dealing  with  error  merely  denounces,  instead  of 
disproving,  it  (I.  Tim.  i.  4, 7, 20 ;  iv.  6,  7  ;  vi.  3-5  ;  Tit. 
i.  10-16;  iii.  9-11  :  II.  Tim.  ii.  14,  18;  iii.  1-9;  iv. 


GENUINENESS  OF  PASTORAL  EPISTLES  171 

3,  4).  The  main  objections,  however,  brought  against 
the  epistles  are  based  on  their  teaching  and  style,  both 
of  which  are  'alleged  to  be  unpauline.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  historical  references  in  the  epistles,  which  arc 
very  natural  and  incidental  and  wholly  unlike  the  work 
of  a  forger,  have  led  recent  scholars  to  the  view  that  the 
author  based  his  work  on  genuine  notes  of  Paul  (comp. 
I.  Tim.  i.  3,  20  ;  Tit.  i.  5  ;  iii.  12, 13  ;  II.  Tim.  i.  15-18  ; 
iv.  10-21).  Even  these  critics,  however,  vary  greatly 
in  the  determination  of  the  Pauline  portions. 

176.  But  this  criticism  may  be  met  by  a  greater 
array  of  opposing  considerations.  The  negative  hy- 
pothesis does  violence  to  the  explicit  claims  of  the 
epistles  themselves,  and  should  not  be  accepted  with- 
out ample  proof.  It  also  reflects  severely  on  the 
perspicacity  of  the  church  of  the  second  century  which 
received  the  epistles  as  apostolic.  It  is  certain  that  in 
determining  the  New  Testament  canon  the  church 
acted  slowly,  intelligently,  and  upon  evidence.  She 
is  known  to  have  rejected .  other  works  falsely  claiming 
apostolic  autliorship.  Her  acceptance  of  these  epistles 
should  be  presumed  to  have  had  sufficient  reason, 
unless  convincing  proof  to  the  contrary  can  be  pro- 
duced. Nor  is  the  external  evidence  for  the  acceptance 
of  these  epistles  inadequate.  It  is  found  possibly  in 
',Clement  of  Rome  (a.  d.  96)  and  certainly  in  the  writ- 
ings of  Ignatius  (about  a.  d.  110)  and  Polycarp  (about 
A.  D.  110).  The  letters  were  thus  undoubtedly  pro- 
duced in  the  first  century  ;  and  the  earliest  post-apos- 
tolic literature  shows  them  in  circulation  and  used  as 
other  apostolic  writings  were.  Their  absence  from 
Marcion's  canon  is  no  evidence  against  them,  since  he 
only   accepted    a   portion    of    the   books   received   as 


172     EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

authoritative  by  the  church,  and  these  epistles  would, 
from  his  theological  views,  naturally  be  distasteful  to 
him.  Still  further,  the  historical  allusions  contained 
in  them,  which  have  been  already  noticed,  are  strong 
testimony  to  their  authenticity.  The  admission  by 
I  recent  negative  critics  of  a  genuine  Pauline  element  is 
an  acknowledgment  that  the  historical  situation  evi- 
denced by  the  epistles  belongs  to  the  life  of  Paul. 

177.  Moreover,  the  objections  to  their  contents 
either  disappear  on  examination  or  are  insufficient  to 
weigh  against  the  other  testimony  in  their  favor. 
Thus  the  false  teachers  cannot  be  identified  with  any 
known  heretical  sect  of  the  second  century.  So  true 
is  this  that  recent  opposing  critics  consider  the  refer- 
ences to  them  to  be  a  somewhat  crude  and  mixed 
allusion  to  heresy  in  general.  But  they  can  be  con- 
sistently explained,  if  we  suppose  the  false  teachers 
to  have  been  Jews  who  used  fanciful  explanations  of 
the  Old  Testament  and  Jewish  legends  to  inculcate 
superstitious  speculations  and  ascetic  practices,  com- 
bined with  pretences  to  a  higher  spiritual  knowledge 
(I.  Tim.  i.  4,  7  ;  iv.  7 ;  vi.  20 ;  Tit.  i.  10,  14  ;  iii.  9 ; 
IT.  Tim.  ii.  18) ;  and  the  existence  of  similar  destruc- 
tive tendencies  in  Asia  Minor  appears  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Colossians.  The  errorists  of  these  epistles 
even  appear  less  Gnostic  than  those  of  Colosse,  for 
the  "  myths  and  endless  genealogies  "  to  which  allusion 
is  made  (I.  Tim.  i.  4;  Tit.  i.  14;  iii.  9;  II.  Tim.  iv.  4) 
were  probably  Jewish  fables  rather  than  speculations 
about  the  Godhead.  The  references  therefore  better 
suit  the  first  century  than  the  second.  The  apostle 
foresaw,  however,  that  the  evil  would  increase  (I.  Tim. 
iv.  1  ;  II.  Tim.  iii.  1, 13). 


TEACHING  OF  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES        173 

178.  In  like  manner  the  directions  about  church 
officials  point  to  the  apostolic  age,  since  the  bishop  is 
still  identified  with  the  elder  (I.  Tim.  iii.  1 ;  v.  17 ; 
Tit.  i.  5,  7),  and  the  directions  are  given  not  in  the 
least  for  the  purpose  of  advancing  the  power  of  any 
office,  nor  to  develop  the  machinery  of  church  govern- 
ment, but  to  secure  high  character  and  faithful  teach- 
ing in  the  officials  already  established.  Neither  is  the 
author's  tone  of  address  to  Timothy  and  Titus,  nor  his 
severe  denunciation  of  the  errorists  as  schismatical  and 
opposed  to  established  doctrine,  inconsistent  with  Paul's 
position  or  habit.  Christianity  was  in  fact  already  es- 
tablished ;  and,  as  all  his  epistles  show,  it  was  his 
custom  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  an  unchangeable 
revelation  had  been  made  in  Christ,  and  that  the 
Christian  life  was  one  of  holiness.  Writing  to  men 
to  whom  he  had  delegated  for  a  time  important  fields, 
knowing  that  truth  and  duty  had  already  been  taught 
to  the  churches,  and  seeing  that  false  and  foolish  teach- 
ings, often  combined  with  failure  to  strive  after  the 
high  moral  ideal  of  the  gospel,  were  being  introduced, 
he  naturally  urged  his  helpers,  and  through  them  the 
churches,  to  be  true  to  what  they  had  been  taught. 
There  was  no  need  to  go  over  the  whole  argument  for 
Christianity,  but  only  to  enforce  its  application.  The 
epistles  therefore  fit  into  just  the  situation  which  the 
development  of  the  churches  must  inevitably  have 
created. 

179.  Nor  can  the  doctrinal  teaching  of  these  epistles 
he  shown  to  be  unpauline.  If  it  be  said  that  "  faith  " 
is  here  used  to  denote  the  content  of  that  which  is 
believed  (I.  Tim.  i.  19 ;  ii.  9 ;  iv.  1,  6  ;  vi.  10,  21 ;  Tit. 
i.  1, 13),  and  is  classed  as  merely  one  of  the  Christian 


174     EXPANSION   OF  CHRISTIANITY  UNDER  PAUL 

virtues  (I.  Tim.  vi.  11 ;  II.  Tim.  ii.  22),  it  may  be  re- 
plied that  these  aspects  of  faith  always  formed  part  of 
Paul's  representation  of  it  (II.  Thess.  i.  10 ;  ii.  12  ;  iii. 
2  ;  Rom.  x.  9 ;  Gal.  v.   22,  23),  that  the  increase   of 
false  teaching   naturally  led  to  further  stress  on  the 
former  of  these  aspects,  and  that  the  common  Pauline 
use   of  "  faith "   to   denote   the    saving   trust   of    the 
Christian  in  his  Lord  and  the  sphere  in  which  all  his 
spiritual  activities  move,  appears  as  plainly  in  these 
epistles  as  elsewhere  (I.  Tim.  i.  2,  4,  5,  14,  16  ;  ii.  15 ; 
iii.  15  ;  iv.  3,  10  ;  vi.  11,  12  ;  Tit.  i.  4;  ii.  2  ;  iii.  15; 
II.  Tim.  i.  5,  13  ;  ii.  18,  22;  iii.  8,  15  ;  iv.  7).     If  it 
be  said  that  here  stress  is  laid  on  "  sound  teaching " 
(I.  Tim.  i.  10 ;  iv.  6  ;  Tit.  i.  9  ;  ii.  1 ;  II.  Tim.  i.  3 ; 
ii.  2;  iv.  3),  and  "good  works"  (I.  Tim.  iv.  12;  vi. 
11,18,19;  Tit.  i.  16;  ii.  12,  14;  iii.  8),  the  reply  is 
obvious  that  in  other  epistles  Paul  emphasized  the  duty 
of  adherence  to  his  teaching  (I.  Thess.  ii.  13 ;  iv.  1 ; 
II.  Thess.  ii.  15;  iii.  6,  14;  I.  Cor.  xi.  2;  Col.  ii.  6), 
and  never  failed  to  insist  on  the  moral  fruits  of  faith 
(e.  g.  I.  Thess.  iv.  1-12 ;  Gal.  v.  19  to  vi.  10 ;  I.  Cor. 
vi.  9-11).     In  like   manner  he  had  ever  been  accus- 
tomed, as  in  these  epistles,  to  hold  himself  before  his 
converts  for  their  imitation  (I.  Thess.  ii.  1 ;  II.  Thess. 
iii.  7 ;  Gal.  iv.  12  ;  Phil.  iii.  17),  and  to  make  God's 
gracious  dealing  with  him  an  illustration  of  his  Gospel 
(Gal.  i.  11-17  ;  I.  Cor.  ix.  1,  2 ;  xv.  8-11  ;  II.  Cor.  ii. 
14-17)  ;   nor   does   this   seem  inappropriate   in  these 
letters  to  Timothy  and  Titus,  because  the  epistles  were 
addressed  to  them  in  their  official  capacities  and  the 
false  use  of  the  law  by  the  errorists  suggested  the  re- 
emphasizing   of   the   fundamental    principle   of   grace 
which  his  own   experience   had  illustrated.     In  fact, 


STYLE  OF  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES  175 

Paul's  distinctive  doctrines  of  grace  appear  in  these 
epistles.  The  law,  though  honorable  (I.  Tim.  i.  8j 
comp.  Rom.  vii.  12},  is  said  to  be  designed  to  bring 
the  sinful  to  repentance  (I.  Tim.  i.  9, 10;  comp.  Gal. 
iii.  19,  22)  ;  while  we  read  of  the  sovereignty  of  divine 
grace  in  salvation  (I.  Tim.  i.  14  ;  vi.  12  ;  Tit.  ii.  11 , 
iii.  4-7  ;  II.  Tim.  i.  9;  ii.  10,  19),  of  salvation  itself  as 
justification  (Tit.  iii.  7)  obtained  through  redemption 
by  the  work  of  Christ  (I.  Tim.  i.  15 ;  ii.  5,  6 ;  Tit.  ii. 
14  ;  II.  Tim.  ii.  11),  and  witnessed  by  the  renewal  of  life 
by  the  Spirit  (Tit.  iii.  5,  6,  9  ;  II.  Tim.  i.  14j,  and  of  the 
second  advent  as  the  object  of  the  believer's  hope 
(I.  Tim.  vi.  14 ;  Tit.  ii.  13 ;  II.  Tim.  iv.  8,  18).  The 
familiar  Pauline  phrase  "  in  Christ  "  occurs  (I.  Tim.  i. 
14 ;  iii.  13  ;  II.  Tim.  i.  1, 9, 13  ;  ii.  1 ;  iii.  12, 15),  as  well 
as  other  characteristic  expressions  and  sentiments  (e.  g. 
I.  Tim.  i.  11,  12;  ii.  7,  12  ;  iv.  3,  4;  vi.  1,  2,  14;  Tit. 
ii.  9,  10;  iii.  1,  2;  II.  Tim.  ii.  8,  26).  The  way  of  - 
salvation,  in  short,  is  the  same  in  these  epistles  as  in 
the  earlier  ones.  The  most  that  can  be  fairly  said  is  i/ 
that  there  is  a  strong  emphasis  on  certain  duties  of 
Christian  life,  a  tendency  to  use  brief  formulas  of  doc- 
trine without  elaborating  them,  and  the  employment 
of  some  new  terms,  —  such  as  "  godliness,"  "  mediator"  i 
as  a  title  of  Christ,  and  the  expression "  God  our  •; 
Saviour/'  —  which  strike  the  reader  as  unusual.  But  ' 
the  placing  of  emphasis  on  different  aspects  of  truth 
or  duty  is  a  marked  characteristic  of  Paul  as  a  writer. 
So  also  is  his  use  of  new  words  and  phrases  in  accord- 
ance with  the  changing  needs  of  the  situation  and  the 
arguments  of  his  opponents. 

180.   It  must  be  acknowledged,  indeed,  that  the  style 
and  diction  of  these  epistles  differ  considerably  from 


176     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

Paul's  earlier  letters.     They  contain  many  words  not 

i ^previously  used  by  him.  Many  scholars  miss  from 
them  his  dialectical  method  of  argumentation  and  the 
absence  of  his  usual  particles  of  connection.  But 
other  facts  advise  us  that  this  argument  cannot  be 
pressed.  The  vast  bulk  of  the  language  is  Pauline. 
The  comparative  absence  of  the  particles  proper  to 
argument  is  explained  by  the  absence  of  doctrinal  dis- 
cussions. As  already  remarked,  the  versatility  of  his 
mind  led  Paul  to  adjust  his  instruction  to  new  situa- 
tions; and  this  caused  a  steady  enlargement  of  the 
vocabulary  of  his  epistles,  which  is  in  fact  one  of  their 
most  striking  features.  The  argument,  therefore,  from 
style  and  diction  should  not  cast  doubt  on  these  epis- 
tles. If  so,  the  other  objections  are  certainly  inade- 
quate. We  do  not  hesitate,  therefore,  to  accept  them 
as  Pauline  and  to  use  them  for  the  construction  of 
the  history. 


n 

>/^NTRANCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY   INTO   EUROPE 

181.  Returning  to  Antioch  at  the  period  subsequent 
to  the  council  and  Peter's  visit,  our  narrative  must 
follow  the  expansion  of  Christianity  among  the  Gen- 
tiles, for  which  the  earlier  labors  of  Paul  and  Barna- 
bas and  the  decision  of  the  council  had  prepared  the 
way.  The  part  of  Acts  fxv.  36  to  xxviii.  31)  which, 
with  the  epistles  of  Paul,  is  the  source  of  information, 
describes  only  the  missionary  activity  of  that  apostle, 
so  that  our  view  of  the  expansion  must  be  limited  to 
his  work.  Hence  it  is  important  to  remember  that 
many  others  were  more  or  less  closely  associated  with 
him.  He  was  not  a  solitary  evangelist,  but  rather 
the  commanding  officer  of  a  large  circle  of  mission- 
aries ;  and  the  number  of  his  co-laborers  increased  with 
the  progress  of  the  work.  It  is  also  still  more  im- 
portant to  remember  that  outside  of  this  Pauline  circle 
many  other  missionaries  went  forth,  and  doubtless  in 
every  direction.  Paul  himself  alludes  to  Peter,  Bar- 
nabas, and  the  brethren  of  the  Lord  as  well-known 
evangelists  (I.  Cor.  ix.  5,  6).  The  tradition  {Eus.  HE. 
in.  1)  that  the  apostles  scattered  to  various  parts  of 
the  world  plainly  rests  on  a  basis  of  fact  (com  p.  sect. 
103) ;  and  the  diffusion  of  Christianity  which  existed 
at  the  close  of  the  century  can  hardly  be  explained 
except   by  the   labors   of   many  agents.     The   period 

12 


178     EXPANSION   OF  CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

was  thus  one  of  widespread  evangelism.  Neither  was 
the  latter  all  of  the  same  type.  The  Judaizing  op- 
ponents of  Paul  actively  pushed  their  views  within 
his  own  churches.  Other  Jewish  missionaries  carried 
the  message  of  Jesus  among  their  countrymen  in  an 
independent  way,  without  opposing  Paul,  but  doubtless 
without  emphasizing  the  phases  of  the  gospel  on  whicli 
he  laid  sti-ess.  We  read  in  Acts  (xviii.  26 ;  xix.  1-3) 
of  imperfectly  instructed  disciples,  one  of  whom  had 
heard  of  Jesus  in  Alexandria  ;  while  in  Paul's  epistles 
false  teachers  of  various  kinds  are  continually  opposed. 
It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  quite  different  types  of 
Christianity  were  being  disseminated. 

182.  Yet  the  expansion  under  Paul  was  the  fact 
of  chief  importance.  Luke  followed  it,  not  because 
he  was  ignorant  of  others,  nor  merely  because  he  had 
been  associated  with  the  apostle.  It  was  through 
Paul's  work  that  Christianity  was  established  in  the 
chief  cities  of  the  empire,  and  thus  obtained  the 
significance  which  it  had  when  Luke  wrote.  This 
line  of  progress  was  historically  the  most  portentous. 
In  Paul's  Epistles,  moreover,  which  arc  the  index  of 
his  teaching,  the  Christian  system  of  belief  was  com- 
pletely unfolded,  so  that  under  him  Christianity 
evolved  its  content  as  well  as  extended  its  area. 
Later  epistles  from  other  hands  prove  that  the  Pauline 
teaching  was  recognized  by  the  other  leaders  of  the 
church  as  the  correct  expression  of  the  faith.  It  is 
true  that  he  met  with  constant  opposition,  and  that 
his  own  churches  required  from  him  continual  in- 
struction and  rebuke.  But  apostolic  Christianity  ever 
presents  two  phases,  —  one  the  Christianity  which  was 
taught  by  its  founders  ;  the  other  that  of  the  churches, 


PAUL'S  SECOND  JOURNEY  179 

which  was  often,  quite  an  incomplete  appropriation 
of  the  former.  Paiiliiiism  was  unquestionably  the 
genuine  development  of  the  apostolic  faith.  Hence 
in  following  Paul,  while  we  are  not  to  forget  other 
agents,  we  follow  the  expansion  which  was  histori- 
cally the  most  monentous  and  which  gave  its  full 
significance  to  the  apostolic  age. 

183.  Paul's  second  missionary  journey,  as  it  is 
commonly  called,  originated  from  a  proposal  to  Barna- 
bas to  revisit  the  churches  which  they  had  previously 
planted  (Acts  xv.  36).  A  sharp  difference  of  opinion 
on  the  subject  of  taking  Mark  with  them  led,  however, 
to  their  separation  (xv.  37-39).  Barnabas,  with  Mark, 
sailed  to  Cyprus,  and  thenceforth  disappears  from 
authentic  history,  save  for  the  allusion  to  him  in 
I.  Corinthians  ix.  6.  The  traditions  about  him  are  late 
and  various.  It  may  well  be  that  he  continued  to 
perform  a  large  part  in  the  spread  of  Christianity,  and 
to  mediate,  as  he  had  done  before,  between  Jewish 
and  Gentile  believers.  Paul  took  for  his  companion 
Silas,  who  had  returned  to  Antioch.  Possessed  of 
prophetic  gifts  (Acts  xv.  32),  a  leader  and  probably 
a  presbyter  of  the  Jerusalem  Church,  and  seemingly, 
like  Paul,  a  Roman  citizen  (Acts  xvi.  37),  Silas  was  in 
complete  accord  with  the  views  of  the  apostle  and  was 
destined  to  be  one  of  his  most  devoted  co-laborers. 

184.  The  two  men  left  Antioch  probably  in  the 
spring  of  a.  d.  51  (see  Appendix),  and  the  prayers  of 
the  church  followed  them  (Acts  xv.  40).  Their  object 
still  appears  to  have  been  to  visit  the  churches  already 
founded,  though  this  of  course  did  not  exclude  further 
evangelization.  Hence  they  passed  first  through  Syria 
and  Cilicia,  and   then   crossed   into  Lycaonia  (xvi.  1) 


180     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIANITY  UNDER  PAUL 

and  Phrjgia  (xvi.  6),  the  scene  of  the  former  labors  of 
Paul  and  Barnabas.  At  Lystra,  Timothy,  who  had 
won  the  favor  of  the  disciples  there  and  in  Iconium, 
and  to  whom  the  Spirit  pointed  as  destined  for  im- 
portant work  (I.  Tim.  i.  18  ;  iv.  14),  was  taken  into 
the  party  (sect.  128).  Paul  caused  him,  as  the  son 
of  a  Jewess,  to  be  circumcised  in  order  not  to  give 
offence  to  the  Jews  (Acts  xvi.  3),  thus  showing  his 
entire  willingness  to  act  on  the  principle  laid  down 
by  the  council.  His  refusal  to  allow  Gentiles  to  be 
circumcised  was  quite  consistent  with  the  observance 
of  that  rite  by  Jews,  especially  if  the  cause  could  be 
advanced  thereby.  Doubtless  also  at  this  time  Timothy 
was  formally  set  apart  by  the  church  as  an  evangelist 
(T.  Tim.  iv.  14),  a  ceremony  in  which  the  apostle 
joined  (II.  Tim.  i.  6).  Luke  further  notes  that,  as  he 
went,  Paul  delivered  to  the  churches  the  decree  of 
the  council.  How  consistently  he  could  do  this  has 
been  already  discussed  (sects.  159,  160). 

185.  The  apostle  had  now  revisited  the  churches 
previously  planted,  but  he  was  not  disposed  to  halt. 
Perhaps,  with  the  replacement  of  Barnabas  by  Silas, 
his  plans  had  enlarged.  Perhaps,  as  they  advanced 
through  the  older  territory,  the  accessibility  of  the 
Gentiles  impressed  them  anew.  At  any  rate,  it  was 
now  his  purpose  to  enter  the  Roman  province  of  Asia  ; 
but  the  Divine  Spirit  forbade  it.  God  had  chosen 
another  field  for  him,  and  the  apostle  was  made  to 
realize  that  another  mind  than  his  own  was  planning 
for  the  future.  The  precise  direction  of  his  journey  at 
this  point  is,  however,  much  disputed.  The  common 
opinion  has  been  that  he  went  northeast  through 
Phrygia,   in   which    Pisidian    Antioch    lay,   into    the 


THE   GALATIANS  181 

region  of  Galatia  (Acts  xvi.  6)^.  The  latter  was  a  large 
area  in  the  centre  of  Asia  Minor.  It  received  its  name 
from  certain  Gallic  tribes  who  in  the  third  century  B.C., 
after  invading  Macedonia  and  Thrace,  had  crossed  over 
into  Asia  on  the  invitation  of  the  king  of  Bithynia  to 
assist  him  in  war.  Though  subdued  by  the  Romans 
(189  B.  c),  they  had  been  permitted  to  retain  self-gov- 
ernment, and  under  Pompey  Galatia  had  been  made  a 
kingdom.  Under  the  last  king,  Amyntas  IV.,  their 
territory  was  much  extended  to  the  south,  so  as  to  in- 
clude part  of  Phrygia,  Pisidia,  Lycaonia,  and  Isauria, 
and  after  the  death  of  Amyntas  (b.  c.  25),  this  ex- 
tended territory  became  the  Roman  province  of  Galatia, 
to  which  (b.  c.  7)  further  additions  were  made  on  the 
north  {Ramsay,  Hist.  Geog-  of  As.  M.,  pp.  252-254). 
The  term  "  Galatia  "  might  therefore  describe  the  ter- 
ritory inhabited  by  the  descendants  of  the  Gauls  and 
popularly  known  by  this  term,  or  the  more  extended 
Roman  province  to  which  the  name  was  affixed  by  the 
imperial  government.  In  the  latter  case  it  would  in- 
clude the  region  already  evangelized.  Hence  many 
have  maintained  that  Paul's  Galatians  were  the 
churches  which  he  and  Barnabas  founded  in  Phrygia 
and  Lycaonia;  while  Professor  Ramsay  (St.  Paul  the 
Trav.  chh.  viii.,  ix.,  Studia  Bib.  et  Eccles.,  1896)  main- 
tains also  that  in  Acts  xvi.  6  we  should  translate  "  they 
passed  through  the  Plirygio  —  Galatic  region "  and 
understand  by  that  phrase  the  part  of  Phrygia  which 
belonged  to  the  province  of  Galatia.  In  that  case  Paul 
did  not  enter  Galatia  proper  at  all. 
■"  186.  To  whomever  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians  was 
written,  it  is  difficult  to  interpret  Luke's  language  as 
Professor   Ramsay  does,  because    in  xviii.  23  he  re- 


182     EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY  UNDER  PAUL 

verses  the  clauses  and  speaks  of  "  the  Galatian  region 
and  Pbrygia,"  thus  indicating  that  he  used  the  phrase 
"  Galatian  region  "  as  descriptive  of  a  territory  differ- 
ent from  Phrygia  (see  Zahn,  Einleit.  I.  133).  We  must 
believe,  therefore,  that,  when  Paul  was  forbidden  to 
enter  Asia,  he  did  turn  into  the  region  of  Galatia 
proper.  Did  he  found  churches  there  ?  Luke  does  not 
record  it.  Yet  he  implies  it  in  the  use  of  the  verb 
which  he  commonly  uses  elsewhere  to  describe  an 
evangelizing  tour,  and  his  failure  specifically  to  men- 
tion it  may  have  been  due  to  the  purpose  of  his  nar- 
rative. His  account  here  (xvi.  6-10)  is  very  condensed. 
He  was  bent  on  describing  the  divine  guidance  which 
led  the  apostle  to  Troas  and  so  to  Europe.  Events 
in  Galatia  which  did  not  result  in  the  occupation  of 
territory  of  special  interest  to  one  who  had  in  mind 
the  evangelization  of  the  empire,  are  passed  over,  and 
the  founding  of  churches  there  may  have  been  passed 
over  too.  It  is  in  itself  improbable  that  Paul  lost  any 
opportunity  of  extending  the  work. 

187.  The  question  must,  therefore,  be  raised  here 
whether  the  Galatians  to  whom  Paul  addressed  his 
epistle  were  inhabitants  of  Galatia  proper  or  of  Phrygia 
and  Lycaonia.  Much  may  be  said  in  favor  of  both 
views.  No  doubt  Paul  could  have  addressed  the  people 
of  Pisidian  Antioch,  Iconium,  Derbe,  and  Lystra  as 
Galatians,  if  he  chose  to  use  official  Roman  nomencla- 
ture ;  and  his  frequent  use  of  the  names  of  provinces 
(Rom.  xvi.  5  ;  I.  Cor.  xvi.  15  ;  II.  Cor.  i.  8,  16 ;  ii.  12 ; 
1.  Tim.  i.  3  ;  II.  Tim.  i.  1.5),  and  especially  his  apparent 
classification  of  his  churches  by  provinces  in  the  matter 
of  the  collection  for  the  Judean  Christians  (Rom.  xv. 
26 ;   II.  Cor.  viii.  1 ;   ix.  2 ;  perh.  I.  Cor.  xvi.  1),  gives 


THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  GALATIANS  183 

plausibility  to  the  view  that  he  did  so.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  have  no  instance  of-  his  addressing  a  letter  to 
the  churches  of  a  province  under  that  name  alone  ;  and 
this  is  specially  notable  in  the  case  of  the  epistle  to  the 
Ephesians,  which  was  probably  a  circular  letter  to  the 
churches  of  Asia.  The  Galatian  epistle  contains,  in 
spite  of  Professor  Ramsay's  acute  arguments  to  the 
contrary,  no  allusion  which  is  not  susceptible  of  expla- 
nation on  the  other  view,  while  the  description  of  his 
reception  "  as  an  angel  of  God  "  (Gal.  iv.  14)  hardly 
comports  with  anything  we  know  of  on  the  first  mission- 
ary journey.  If  it  be  said  that  the  Judaizers  would 
most  naturally  operate  in  the  nearer  towns  of  South 
Galatia,  where  there  were  large  Jewish  colonies,  it  may 
be  said,  on  the  other  hand,  that  Judaism  had  also  en- 
tered Galatia  proper  (Jos.  Antiq.  xvi.  6.  2),  and  that 
the  Judaizers  would  be  more  likely  to  attack  Paul's 
own  new  churches  which  had  not  been  so  long  and  well 
established  as  those  of  Phrygia  and  Lycaonia.  It  is  a 
serious  difficulty  with  the  "  South-Galatian "  view  that 
the  apostle  appeals  to  his  readers  as  if  he  alone  had 
been  their  spiritual  father  (iv.  13-20 ;  v.  1),  whereas 
on  the  first  journey  Barnabas  was  associated  with  him 
on  equal  terms.  The  force  of  this  fact  is  not  lessened 
by  the  incidental  allusions  to  Barnabas  as  known  by 
the  Galatians  (ii.  1,  9,  13),  any  more  than  is  Paul's 
special  relation  to  the  Corinthian  church  made  doubt- 
ful by  his  reference  to  Barnabas  and  Peter  in  First 
Corinthians  (ix.  6).  An  equally  serious  difficulty  lies 
in  the  date  which  must  be  given  to  the  epistle  on  the 
theory  in  question.  It  appears  from  iv.  13,  that  Paul 
had  twice  \3s|tcdjhe  Galatians.  Hence  on  the  "South- 
GalatiarT"  view  the  epistle   must  have  been  written 


184     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

during  his  second  missionary  journey,  since  the  third 

journey  began  with  a  third  visit  to  Phrygia  (Acts  xviii. 

23).     Yet,  if  the  epistle  be  dated  before  or  during  his 

visit  to  Corinth,  we  are  confronted  with  the  fact  that 

the  epistles  to  the  Thessalonians,  written  from  Corinth, 

contain  no  allusions  to  the  Judaistic  attacks,  and  no 

emphasis  on  those  specific  doctrines  upon  which  these 

attacks  ever  afterwards  caused  him  to  lay  stress  ;  while 

if  we  date  it  at  the  close  of  the  second  journey,  we  are 

confronted  with  the  fact  that  in  the  epistle  he  says 

nothing  of  his  intention  of  again  visiting  the  Galatians, 

—  indeed  in  iv.  20  writes  as  if  he  could  not  do  so,  — 

although  Acts  xviii.  19-23  makes  it  clear  that   such 

was  his  purpose,  and  that  he  at  once  actually  did  so.    It 

thus  seems  quite  improbable  that  the  epistle  was  written 

»  during  or  at  the  close  of  the  second  journey  ;  and  this 

;j  of  itself  leads  to  the  conclusion,  in  view  of  iv.  13,  that 

i|  the  Galatians  were  not  the  Christians  of  Phrygia  and 

I  Lycaonia. 

188.  We  infer,  therefore,  that  Paul  not  only  passed 
through  Galatia  proper,  but  that  he  tarried  there  and 
evangelized.  Yet  the  delay  appears  not  to  have  been 
his  original  intention.  He  was  afflicted  on  the  way  by 
a  grievous,  and  seemingly  loathsome,  disease  (Gal.  iv. 
13,  14),  doubtless  an  attack  of  the  mysterious  "  thorn 
[or  stake]  in  the  flesh  "  of  which  he  writes  elsewhere 
(II.  Cor.  xii.  7).  Though  suffering,  he  began  to 
preach  ;  and  his  words  were  attended  with  such  spir- 
itual power  that  many  received  the  gospel  of  the 
Crucified  (Gal.  iii.  1).  No  doubt  this  led  him  to  linger 
in  Galatia  ;  but  whether  he  preached  in  its  chief  cities, 
Pessinus,  Ancyra,  and  Tavium,  or  only  in  some  of  the 
smaller   villages,   is    not    known.      Then,   advancing 


FROM  ASIA  TO  EUROPE  185 

northward,  he  attempted  to  enter  Bithynia ;  but  again 
the  Sph'it  strangely  forbade  him.  He  was  now  oppo- 
site Mysia,  a  part  of  the  forbidden  province  of  Asia. 
Whither  did  God  intend  him  to  go  ?  Doubtful  of  the 
future,  and  perhaps  still  suffering  from  sickness,  the 
apostle  turned  westward  and,  without  preaching  in 
Mysia,  hastened  through  it  or  along  its  border  to  Troas, 
a  seaport  near  the  mouth  of  the  Hellespont. 

189.  At  Troas  the  vision  of  the  man  of  Macedonia 
(Acts  xvi.  8-10)  indicated  to  him  at  last  the  divine 
will.  Europe  was  his  destined  field  of  labor.  We  may 
believe  that  with  this  vision  the  sense  of  his  divine 
call  to  evangelize  the  empire  and  to  carry  the  gospel 
steadily  to  the  west  began  to  break  upon  his  mind.  At 
Troas  also  Luke  joined  him  (Acts  xvi.  10).  He  is  said 
by  tradition  to  have  been  a  native  of  Antioch,  and 
probably  he  was  already  acquainted  with  Paul.  It 
has  been  also  inferred  that  he  had  been  living  in 
Philippi,  since  he  only  accompanied  the  apostle  on  this 
journey  to  that  city  (xvi.  40).  But  we  must  not  read 
too  much  between  the  lines.  It  is  enough  to  know 
that,  in  obedience  to  what  they  judged  to  be  the  divine 
meaning  of  the  vision,  the  party  sailed  at  once  for 
Macedonia.  Favoring  winds  seconded  the  call  from 
heaven  (xvi.  11).  On  the  second  day  they  reached 
Neapolis,  and  pushed  on  to  Philippi,  the  nearest 
Macedonian  city.  It  was  a  place  of  importance  and  a 
Roman  colony.  The  Roman  spirit  is  manifest  in  the 
names  of  the  officials,  "  prgetors "  (xvi.  20)  and  "  lie- 
tors  "  (xvi.  35,  38) ;  in  the  charges  afterward  brought 
against  Paul  and  Silas  of  teaching  customs  not  lawful 
for  Romans  (xvi.  20,  21) ;  and  in  the  effective  use 
finally  made  by  the  missionaries  of  their  own  Roman 


186     EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER  PAUL 

citizenship  (xvi.  37,  39),  The  apostle  thus  found  him- 
self in  the  Romanized  world.  In  a  sense  never  before 
true  had  he  entered  on  the  conquest  of  the  empire  in 
the  name  of  Jesus. 

190.  Only  a  few  incidents  of  the  work  at  Philippi 
are  recorded  in  Acts  (xvi.  12-40).  Jews  were  not 
numerous,  and,  in  the  absence  of  a  synagogue,  there 
was  only  a  "  place  of  prayer  "  by  the  river  to  which 
chiefly  women  resorted.  Thither  the  missionaries 
went  on  the  Sabbath.  The  first  convert  was  Lydia 
from  Thyatira,  a  Gentile  already  attached  to  Judaism, 
who  with  her  household  was  baptized  and  welcomed 
the  missionaries  to  her  dwelling.  From  this  small 
beginning  the  work  advanced.  Even  Luke's  brief 
account  implies  that  a  deep  impression  was  made  on 
the  population  (xvi.  16,  20,  30),  and  that  a  body  of  dis- 
ciples was  gathered  (xvi.  40).  Luke,  however,  was 
mainly  interested  to  relate  Paul's  treatment  by  the 
authorities.  A  girl,  possessed  of  an  evil  spirit  of 
divination,  bore  testimony  to  Paul  and  Silas  as  servants 
of  the  Most  High  God  (xvi.  16,  18),  as  the  demoniacs 
of  Galilee  had  done  to  Jesus.  But,  like  his  Master, 
Paul  would  not  receive  aid  from  such  a  source,  and  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  expelled  the  demon.  Hence  the 
girl's  owners  accused  Paul  and  Silas  before  the  magis- 
trates and  the  populace  of  being  troublesome  Jews,  and 
of  teaching  customs  unlawful  for  Romans.  The  charge 
was  devised  so  as  to  appeal  both  to  the  popular  dislike 
of  the  Jews  and  to  the  colonial  pride  of  the  Philippians. 
It  was  temporarily  successful  ;  for  the  populace  became 
excited,  and  the  magistrates  hastily  had  the  accused 
beaten  and  thrown  into  prison.  During  the  night  an 
earthquake  opened  tlic  prison  doors  and  shook  off  the 


THE  CHURCH  AT  PHILIPPI  187 

prisoner's  chains ;  but  Paul  and  Silas  made  no  effort  to 
escape.  Their  conduct,  with  the  impression  produced 
by  the  earthquake  and  the  knowledge  that  they  were 
religious  teachers,  was  the  means  of  awakening  the 
conscience  of  the  jailer  and  led  to  his  conversion;  so 
that  the  hour  of  peril  became  one  of  spiritual  triumph. 
Moreover,  in  the  morning  the  magistrates,  having 
doubtless  realized  .the  hastiness  of  their  previous 
action,  sent  w^ord  by  the  lictors  to  let  the  prisoners  go. 
But  Paul  revealed  the  fact  that  they  were  Romans,  and 
demanded  an  apology  for  the  illegal  treatment  to 
which  they  had  been  subjected.  Hence  the  magistrates 
themselves  went  to  release  them,  and  respectfully 
requested  them  to  leave  the  city. 

191.  While  Luke's  narrative  exhibits  the  new 
atmosphere  into  which  the  gospel  was  being  carried, 
much  more  was  accomplished  at  Philippi  than  he 
records.  The  church  in  that  city  steadily  grew  in 
numbers  and  power.  Tlie  zeal,  consecration,  and  liber- 
ality amid  poverty  of  the  churches  of  Macedonia,  of 
Avhich  that  of  Philippi  was  a  leader,  are  attested  grate- 
fully by  the  apostle  in  II.  Corinthians  (viii.),  while  his 
epistle  to  the  Philippians  testifies  to  their  affectionate 
relations  to  himself  (i.  7,  25 ;  ii.  9 ;  iv.  1)  and  their 
steadfastness  in  the  faith  (i.  5,  27  ;  ii.  12).  Twice 
after  his  departure  they  sent  him  financial  aid  (Phil, 
iv.  14),  as  later  they  again  did  to  him  at  Rome  (iv.  10). 
They  were  organized  into  a  church,  with  bishops,  or 
presbyters,  and  deacons,  after  the  model  of  those  in 
Syria  (Phil.  i.  1).  Luke  remained  among  them  and  , 
was  doubtless  one  of  their  leaders  ;  while  in  the  epistle 
to  the  Philippians  we  read  of  Epaphroditus  (ii.  25)  and 
Clement  (iv.  3),  with  other  workers,  men  and  women 


188     EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER  PAUL 

(iv.  2,  3),  active  and  honored  in  the  cause.  The  Phil- 
ippian  church,  dim  though  the  outline  of  its  history- 
is,  presents  a  beautiful  picture  of  successful  and  unin- 
terrupted progress.  The  opposition  of  paganism,  of 
which  Paul  had  had  a  foretaste,  did  not  cease  (Phil.  i. 
28-30) ;  but  it  only  evoked  the  zeal  of  the  disciples. 
The  apostle  left  Philippi  with  the  seal  of  success 
plainly  placed  on  the  entrance  of  the  gospel  into 
Europe. 

192.  In  company  with  Silas  and  Timothy  he  next 
went  westward,  about  a  hundred  miles,  to  Thessalonica 
(Acts  xvii.  1).  The  object  seems  to  have  been  to 
occupy  the  most  influential  centres.  Such  a  centre  was 
Thessalonica.  Situated  on  the  Thermaic  gulf,  which 
empties  into  the  ^gean  Sea,  it  commanded  the  whole 
region  lying  to  the  north.  Soon  Paul  could  write  to 
the  Thessalonians :  "  From  you  sounded  out  the  word  of 
the  Lord  not  only  in  Macedonia  and  Achaia,  but  also  in 
every  place  your  faith  to  Godward  is  spread  abroad " 
(I.  Thess.  i.  8).  It  was  in  fact  the  metropolis  of 
Macedonia.  It  was  a  free  city,  having  municipal  self- 
government,  as  the  peculiar  titles  of  its  magistrates, 
"  politarchs "  (xvii.  6),  indicate.  In  it  Paul's  work 
was  again  very  successful.  For  three  Sabbaths  he 
preached  in  the  synagogue  (xvii.  2),  for  there  was  a 
large  colony  of  Jews  in  the  city.  He  proved  to  them 
from  Scripture  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  and  that  his 
death  and  resurrection  were  necessary  (xvii.  3).  The 
result  was  the  formation  of  a  church  composed  of  a 
few  Jews  and  many  devout  Gentiles,  with  some  women 

'  of  high  social  standing  (xvii.  4). 

193.  More  information  is  given  by  Paul  himself 
in  his   letters   to  the  Thessalonians.      The   predomi- 


PAUL  IN  THESSALONICA  189 

nantly  Gentile  character  of  the  church  is  there  confirmed 
(I.  Thess.  i.  9).  He  refers. also  to  the  spiritual  power 
wliich  had  attended  his  ministry  (I.  Thess.  i.  3,  5)  and 
the  many  practical  as  well  as  doctrinal  instructions 
which  he  had  given  them  (I.  Thess.  ii.  3-8,  11,  12;  iv. 
1-7,  11 ;  II.  Thess.  ii.  5,  15).  He  set  them  an  example 
of  industry  and  sobriety  by  supporting  himself  among 
them  by  manual  toil  (I.  Thess.  ii.  9,  10  ;  iv.  11 ;  II. 
Thess.  iii.  8).  It  is  evident  that  he  remained  longer 
than  the  three  weeks  mentioned  by  Luke.  They  were 
but  the  commencement  of  his  mission.  It  is  also  evi- 
dent that,  while  in  the  synagogue  he  argued  from  the 
Old  Testament,  he  also  fully  instructed  the  disciples 
in  the  duties  as  well  as  the  doctrines  of  Christian  life. 
The  epistles  show  that  his  instructions  took  a  wide 
range,  but  that  he  especially  dwelt  on  the  gospel  as  a 
call  to  repentance  and  holiness  (I.  Thess.  ii.  12  ;  iv.  7  ; 
V.  23)  as  well  as  to  salvation,  and  on  the  return  of 
Messiah  to  judgment  and  to  his  kingdom  (I.  Thess.  i. 
10  ;  ii.  19  ;  iv.  15  ;  II.  Thess.  ii.  5).  It  should  not  be 
imagined  that  Paul's  ordinary  instructions  consisted 
solely  in  those  doctrinal  discussions  which  form  the 
core  of  his  theological  system.  He  dealt  with  the 
needs  of  men  as  he  found  them.  He  was  as  precise 
and  definite  in  his  practical  teaching  as  he  was  logical 
and  elaborate  in  his  doctrinal.  His  ministry  was  also 
attended  with  mighty  operations  of  the  Spirit ;  so  that 
the  new  religion  appeared  both  as  an  intellectual  sys- 
tem of  truth  and  as  a  revelation  of  supernatural  power. 
He  proclaimed  himself  to  be  an  ambassador  from  God, 
clothed  with  authority  to  direct  the  belief  and  lives  of 
the  disciples  (I.  Thess.  ii.  6,  13  ;  iii.  2,  15 ;  v.  27 ; 
II.  Thess.  iii.  6,  9,  14).     It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine 


190     EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER  PAUL 

the  spiritual  freshness  and  the  directly  supernatural 
character  of  the  faith  as  he  proclaimed  it.  At  the 
same  time  the  converts  were  but  children,  and  required 
constantly  additional  encouragement  and  instruction, 
a  fact  which  none  realized  more  clearly  than  Paul 
himself  (I.  Thess.  iii.  1-6). 

194.  The  anger  of  the  Jews  in  Thessalonica  led 
finally  to  the  apostle's  departure  from  that  city.  The 
charge  made  by  them  against  the  Christians  of  disloy- 
alty to  Caesar,  on  the  ground  that  they  preached  another 
king  (Acts  xvii.  7),  strikingly  agrees  with  the  promi- 
nence in  the  apostle's  preaching  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Lord's  second  advent.  It  was  of  course  a  charge  man- 
ipulated for  a  purpose,  and  came  with  bad  grace  from 
the  Jews.  His  accusers,  however,  did  not  succeed  in 
arresting  the  apostle  (xvii.  6) ;  yet  the  brethren,  appre- 
hending further  danger  (comp.  I.  Thess.  ii,  14),  sent 
him  and  Silas  by  night  to  Berea,  an  inland  town  on 
the  eastern  slope  of  the  Olympus  range.  Timothy 
appears  also  to  have  accompanied  them.  There  Paul 
was  well  received  even  by  the  Jews.  They  were  im- 
pressed by  his  expositions  of  Scripture,  and  many 
converts,  both  Jew  and  Gentile,  were  made  (Acts 
xvii.  11,  12).  The  Thessalonian  Jews,  however,  fol- 
lowed him  to  Berea  and  roused  popular  feeling  against 
him.  Hence  the  brethren  again  sent  him  away,  this 
time  to  the  coast  and  so  by  sea  to  Athens  (xvii.  13,  14). 
Silas  and  Timothy  remained  behind,  and  Paul  sent  back 
word  for  them  to  join  him  at  Athens  (xvii.  15).  We 
infer  from  I.  Thcssalonians  iii.  1,  2,  that  Timothy  did 
so,  but  was  again  sent  back  to  Thessalonica  on  account 
of  the  apostle's  anxiety  about  that  church.  Acts  itself 
indicates  that  the  order  for  Silas  and  Timothy  to  join 


PAUL   IN   ATHENS  191 

Paul  at  Athens  was  not  fully  carried  out,  for  it  relates 
that  they  rejoined  him  at  Corinth  (xviii.  6).  Silas  may 
have  found  it  necessary  to  remain  at  Berea,  and  may 
have  joined  Timothy  ou  the  way  to  Corinth.  The 
apostle,  however,  seems  to  have  waited  some  days  at 
Athens  before  Timothy  arrived. 

195.  Though  alone  in  Athens,  and  in  a  sense  a  fugi- 
tive, he  could  not  be  idle.  His  soul  burned  as  he 
observed  the  popular  idolatry  of  the  famous  city,  and 
he  discussed  with  those  he  met,  both  in  synagogue  and 
agora ;  but  he  seems  to  have  had  little  success.  Per- 
haps, as  often,  a  philosophic  atmosphere  was  peculiarly 
inhospitable  to  the  gospel.  He  found,  however,  a  group 
of  philosophers,  Epicureans  and  Stoics,  who  became 
superficially  interested  in  the  travelling  teacher,  though 
they  regarded  him  rather  with  amused  contempt  than 
with  serious  desire  to  learn  what  he  had  to  say  (Acts 
xvii.  18).  They  gave  him  a  chance  to  expound  his 
doctrines.  It  has  been  the  common  opinion  that  his 
famous  address  before  them  was  delivered  on  that 
part  of  Mars'  Hill,  called  the  Areopagus,  where  the 
celebrated  Athenian  court  bearing  the  same  name  was 
accustomed  to  hold  its  sessions.  If  so,  however,  wc 
must  not  imagine  a  formal  sitting  of  the  court,  but  a 
group  of  listeners  using  this  retired  place  as  a  conven- 
ient auditorium.  Others  (Ciirtius,  Stadtgesch.  von 
Athene,  p.  262 ;  Ramsay,  St.  Paul  the  Trav.  p.  243) 
think  that  by  Areopagus  Luke  meant  the  court  itself, 
and  that  the  address  was  delivered  near  the  agora.  In 
this  case  it  has  been  supposed  that  there  was  either  a 
trial  on  the  charge  of  introducing  new  divinities  or  an 
informal  assemblage  of  the  court  to  decide  whether 
the  stranger  should  be  allowed  to  teach  or  not.     The 


192      EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER  PAUL 

notion  of  a  formal  trial  is  certainly  to  be  rejected, 
since  the  Areopagus  did  not  have  jurisdiction  in  such 
cases  (see  J.  J.  Manatt,  Andover  Rev.,  Nov.  1892), 
and  Luke's  narrative  seems  to  imply  a  gathering  too 
occasional  even  for  an  informal  meeting  of  the  court. 
There  is  thus  no  sufficient  reason  to  abandon  the  usual 
conception  of  the  scene. 

196.  Wherever  the  address  was  delivered,  the  apos- 
tle strove  for  the  only  recorded  time  to  present  Chris- 
tianity so  as  to  appeal  to  philosophers.  He  cleverly 
took  for  his  starting-point  an  inscription  which  he  had 
chanced  to  see  on  an  altar,  "  to  an  unknown  god  " 
(xvii.  23,  R.  v.).  With  all  their  reverence  for  deities, 
there  was  then  one  whom  the  Athenians  knew  not. 
This  deity  he  would  proclaim  to  them.  Then  he  set 
forth  God  as  the  Creator  and  Lord  of  the  universe, 
and  drew  the  inference  that  paganism  with  its  temples 
and  material  offerings  was  unworthy  of  his  majesty 
(xvii.  24,  25).  Next  he  set  forth  God's  government  of 
the  world,  bringing  out  the  unity  of  the  race,  its  uni- 
versal subjection  to  God,  and  his  purpose  that  men 
should  seek  and  find  him  (26,  27).  God,  being  ever 
near  us  and  the  universal  Father,  desires  not  the  coarse 
and  absurd  worship  of  idols,  as  though  he  were  like 
them,  but  man's  spiritual  fellowship  with  himself  (28, 
29).  The  times  of  ignorance,  which  he  permitted,  are 
now  past.  A  revelation  has  been  made.  God's  com- 
mand is  that  men  repent.  The  time  of  judgment  is 
approaching ;  and  Jesus,  whom  he  raised  from  the 
dead  in  token  of  the  authority  conferred  on  him,  is 
to  1)0  the  universal  judge. 

197.  Such  was  the  substance  of  the  address,  accord- 
ing  to   Luke's  meagre  but  evidently  faithful  outline. 


PAUL'S   SPEECH  AT  ATHENS  193 

There  was  much  in  what  was  said  about  the  absurd- 
ity of  idolatry,  and  the  spirituality  of  God,  with  which 
the  auditors,  especially  the  Stoics,  must  have  agreed. 
So  far  the  argument  was  fitted  to  win  them,  and  the 
quotation  from  the  Stoics  Aratus  and  Kleanthes 
(xvii.  28)  were  in  the  same  line  of  appeal.  On  the 
other  hand,  Paul's  pure  theism,  his  doctrine  of 
the  unity  of  the  race  and  of  the  religious  aim  of  the 
world-wide  purpose  of  God,  still  more  his  doctrine 
of  the  resurrection,  were  equally  offensive.  The  men- 
tion of  the  resurrection  evoked  actual  derision.  There 
is  also  a  notable  absence  from  the  address  of  the  doc- 
trine of  redemption,  and  the  appeal  was  to  the  reason  ( 
rather  than  to  the  conscience.  Of  course  on  other 
occasions  in  Athens  the  apostle  may  have  spoken  quite 
differently ;  but  this  address,  like  the  one  at  Lystra 
(Acts  xiv.  15-17),  moved  outside  of  his  usual  themes 
as  we  elsewhere  know  them.  Yet  it  was  of  the  high- 
est value,  because  it  presented  aspects  of  truth  which 
were  to  be  of  fundamental  importance  in  the  coming 
conflict  between  Christianity  and  paganism.  It  illus- 
trates also  the  breadth  of  Paul's  thought,  and  his  ac- 
quaintance with  current  culture ;  and  every  element 
of  it  may  be  found  expressed  elsewhere  in  his  writings. 
While,  moreover,  apparently  designed  to  appeal  to  his 
philosophic  audience,  it  was  in  no  sense  a  compromise 
with  error,  for  it  emphasized  ideas  which  he  must  have 
known  would  offend.  The  result,  however,  was  disap- 
pointing: one  Areopagite  was  converted,  also  a  woman 
and  a  few  others  (34),  and  Paul  finally  moved  on  to 
Corinth  resolved  to  know  nothing  but  Jesus  Christ 
and  him  crucified  (I.  Cor.  ii.  1,  2). 


13 


HI 

PAUL    IN   CORINTH 

198.  Paul's  ministry  at  Corinth,  which  lasted  eigh- 
teen months  (Acts  xviii.  11),  was  one  of  the  most  mo- 
mentous in  his  whole  career.  New  Corinth,  rebuilt  by 
Julius  Csesar  on  the  ruins  of  the  old  city,  was  a  place  of 
large  commercial  importance,  a  colonia,  and  the  resi- 
dence of  the  procurator  of  Achaia.  Its  population  in- 
cluded representatives  of  all  races  and  classes.  It  was 
a  pleasure-loving  city  and  Corinthian  morals  were  a  by- 
word. To  leave  Athens  for  Corinth  was  to  exchange 
an  intellectual  for  a  sensuous,  atmosphere.  Yet  in 
Corinth  the  apostle  attained  'a  success  which  he  had 
not  found  in  Athens.  At  first  he  still  cherished  the 
wish  to  return  to  Thessalonica,  but  though  anxious 
and  waiting  for  Silas  and  Timothy  to  rejoin  him,  he 
could  not  be  idle  (I  Thess.  iii.  4-7).  On  his  arrival  he 
obtained  lodging  and  work  with  the  Pontic  Jew  Aquila, 
(Acts  xviii.  2,  3)  who  with  his  wife  Priscilla  after- 
wards became  his  co-laborers  in  the  nobler  work  ol 
IIk^  gospel  (Acts  xviii.  18,  26  ;  Rom.  xvi.  3  ;  I.  Cor.  xvi. 
19;  11.  Tim.  iv.  9).  They  had  moved  recently  to 
Corinth  from  Rome  because  of  the  edict  of  Claudius  ex- 
pelling Jews  from  the  capital  (Acts  xviii.  2).  Tlris 
edict  is  mentioned  by  Suetonius  (Claud.  25),  who  re- 
lates that  it  was  caused  by  the  tumults  of  the  Jews 
"  impulsore  Chresto.^'     The  date  of  it  has  been  assigned 


PAUL  IN  CORINTH  195 

by  different  scholars  to  the  years  a.  d.  49,  50,  and  52 ; 
but  even  if  the  earliest  of  these  dates,  which  is  the 
least  probable,  be  accepted,  it  does  not  follow  that 
Paul  reached  Corinth  in  that  year,  for  some  margin 
must  be  allowed  for  the  journey  of  Aquila  to  Corinth 
and,  in  spite  of  the  words  "lately  come,"  for  the  period 
between  his  arrival  and  Paul's.  The  language  of  Sue- 
tonius has  also  led  many  to  suppose  that  "  Chrestus" 
was  equivalent  to  "  Christus,"  and  that  the  Jewish 
tumults  in  the  capital  were  between  Christian  and  non- 
Christian  Jews.  But  Suetonius  makes  "  Chrestus  "  the 
instigator  of  the  tumults ;  and  from  what  we  elsewhere 
learn  of  the  beginnings  of  Christianity  in  Rome,  there 
is  little  reason  to  think  that  it  had  at  this  time  attained 
sufficient  strength  to  cause  open  conflicts  in  the  Jewish 
colony  (Acts  xxviii,  21,  22).  At  any  rate  Luke  does 
not  intimate  that  Aquila  and  Priscilla  were  Christians 
when  Paul  met  them.  Doubtless  they  were  led  to  the 
faith  by  their  lodger.  From  their  home,  the  apostle 
went  forth  to  preach  to  the  Corinthians.  He  visited  the 
synagogue  every  Sabbath.  During  the  week  he  sup- 
ported himself  by  his  trade.  Silas  and  Timothy  had 
not  yet  come ;  and  in  spite  of  many  discouragements 
and  of  conscious  weakness  (I.  Cor.  ii.  3),  the  solitary 
ambassador  of  the  Cross  disputed  with  the  Jews  and 
their  Gentile  adherents  and  told  the  story  of  Jesus 
(I.  Cor.  ii.  2). 

199.  At  last  Silas  and  Timothy  joined  him,  with  a 
good  report  on  the  whole  from  Thessalonica  (I.  Thess. 
iii.  6) ;  and  forthwith  his  energy  became  more  intense 
(Acts  xviii.  5).  This  led  finally  to  an  open  rupture 
with  the  Jews,  so  tliat  he  established  himself  with  his 
disciples  in  the  house  of  a  devout  Gentile,  Titus  Justus, 


196     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIANITY  UNDER  PAUL 

next  door  to  the  synagogue.  The  contiguity  of  the 
two  societies  was  of  course  fruitful  in  disputes.  The 
apostle's  company,  however,  grew  rapidly.  Even 
the  ruler  of  the  synagogue,  Crispus,  believed  (xviii.  8 ; 

I.  Cor.  i.  14) ;  but  most  of  the  converts  were  from  the 
lower  classes  of  the  populace,  and  most  of  them  were 
Gentiles  (I.  Cor.  i.  26).  The  work  continued  for  many 
months  and  not  only  spread  through  Corinth,  but 
churches  were  formed  in  adjacent  towns  (II.  Thess.  i. 
4 ;  II.  Cor.  i.  1 :  Rom.  xvi.  1).  It  was,  however,  an 
agonizing  ministry  for  the  apostle,  and  was  performed 
with  an  intensity  of  spiritual  ardor  scarcely  equalled 
in  his  career.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  he 
passed  through  a  period  of  severe  mental  struggle, 
out  of  which  he  came  with  the  resolve  to  preach  more 
simply  and  plainly  than  ever.  We  read  of  a  vision 
vouchsafed  for  his  encouragement  (Acts  xviii.  9, 10). 
In  I.  Corinthians  he  speaks  in  strong  terms  of  his 
fears  and  weakness  while  first  laboring  among  them 
(I.  Cor.  ii.  3).  The  vow  which  he  took  (Acts  xviii.  13) 
may  have  been  connected  with  the  same  experience. 
He  felt,  no  doubt,  a  temptation  to  make  his  message 
more  ornate  in  style  and  philosophical  in  substance ; 
but  was  enabled  to  remain  true  to  the  proclamation  of 
a  crucified  Redeemer  (I.  Cor.  ii,  1-5),  in  spite  of  its 
offensiveness  to  Jew  and  Greek  (I.  Cor.  i.  23),  and  to 
rely  on  the  Spirit's  demonstration  of  the  truth  to  the 
consciences  of  men. 

200.    Tluis  the  great  church  which  Paul  founded  in 
Corinth  was  begotten  with  much  travail  (I.  Cor.  iv.  15  ; 

II.  Cor.  vi.  13),  and  he  ever  looked  on  it  as  peculiarly 
his  own.  Its  subsequent  condition  caused  him  great 
anxiety.     Around  his  relation  to  it  some  of  the  most 


PAUL'S  EPISTLES  197 

perplexing  problems  of  his  life  cluster,  and  out  of  it 
grew  some  of  his  most  important  teaching.  Many  of 
his  converts  were  with  difficulty  separated  from  their 
pagan  usages.  They  were  but  babes  in  Christ  (I.  Cor. 
iii.  1,  2).  Diverse  elements  also  existed  in  the  church, 
to  unite  and  mould  which  required  all  the  authority 
and  patience  of  the  apostle.  Nevertheless  the  progress 
was  rapid.  This  led  finally  to  an  attempt  of  the  Jews 
to  arrest  it  by  force  (Acts  xviii.  12-17  ;  I.  Thess.  ii.  15, 
16).  On  the  arrival  of  Gallio,  the  brother  of  the  phi- 
losopher Seneca,  as  procurator  of  Achaia,  they  accused 
Paul  of  persuading  men  to  worship  God  contrary  to 
the  law ;  but  Gallio  with  justice  refused  to  take  cog- 
nizance of  the  case,  declaring  that  the  religious  quar- 
rels of  the  Jews  were  no  concern  of  his.  His  action 
illustrates  the  attitude  of  the  Roman  government  at 
this  time  to  Christianity.  It  was  regarded  as  a  Jew- 
ish sect  and  therefore  protected ;  and  under  the  shield 
of  Judaism  itself,  which  was  a  reUgio  licita,  it  made 
its  early  progress  throughout  the  empire.  The  pagan 
populace,  moreover,  seeing  the  Jews  repulsed  by  the 
procurator,  let  loose  their  enmity  against  them  and 
beat  Sosthenes,  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue,  before  the 
very  judgment-seat  itself.  Thus  the  effort  of  the  Jews 
to  arrest  Paul  resulted  in  their  complete  discomfiture. 

201.  The  apostle's  sojourn  in  Corinth  was  also  made 
notable  for  all  time  by  the  composition  of  his  first  two 
extant  epistles,  those  to  the  Thessalonians.  Few  now 
doubt  that  both  were  written  from  Corinth.  In  them 
he  associates  with  himself  Silas  and  Timothy  (I.  Thess. 
i.  1 ;  II.  Thess.  i.  1),  the  latter  of  whom  had  recently 
come  from  Thessalonica  with  a  report  of  the  condition 
of  the  church  (I.  Thess.  iii.  6).     The  condition  of  the 


198      EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIANITY  UNDEE  PAUL 

Thessalonians,  as  reflected  in  the  epistles,  was  clearly 
that  of  a  newly  formed  community.  They  required 
the  most  elementary  moral  instruction  (I.  Thess.  iv. 
1-8)  ;  were  disturbed  by  the  death  of  some  of  their 
members  (I.  Thess.  iv.  9-12) ;  and  were  bitterly  op- 
posed by  the  Jews  (I.  Thess.  ii.  13-16).  The  apostle 
refers  also  to  his  sojourn  among  them  as  if  it  were 
recent  (I.  Thess.  ii.  1-12),  and  in  the  first  epistle  there 
is  an  absence  of  allusion  to  doctrinal  controversy  which 
further  implies  an  early  date.  If  I.  Thessalonians  was 
thus  written  from  Corinth  shortly  after  Timothy's 
arrival,  the  second  epistle  was  evidently  penned  from 
the  same  place  some  months  later.  The  situation  of 
the  readers  is  the  same,  though  certain  difficulties  had 
become  more  acute.  The  second  advent  is,  as  in  the 
first  epistle,  the  leading  doctrinal  topic  ;  but  its  dis- 
cussion has  advanced  to  a  new  stage.  In  fact  the  first 
epistle  is  referred  to  (ii.  15)  and  its  language  is  echoed 
in  numerous  phrases  (comp.  II.  Thess.  i.  2,  3,  4,  5,  8, 
11 ;  ii.  13 ;  iii.  6,  12,  7-10 ;  ii.  1 ;  with  I.  Thess.  i.  1, 
2,3,  12;  iv.  5;  i.  3,  4;  v.  9;  iv.  11,  12;  ii.  1-13; 
iv,  17  respectively). 

202.   By  these  two  letters,  therefore,  we  are  intro- 
duced  to   Pauline   literature.     It  is   noteworthy   that 
the  apostle  writes  as  an  authority  whom  the  Thessa- 
lonian  Christians  were  bound  to  obey  (I.  Thess.  iv.  2  ; 
ii.  Thess.  ii.   15  ;  iii.   6,  14)  ;   that  his  epistles  were 
public  documents  to  be  read  in  the  assembly  of  the 
church  (I.  Thess.  v.  27) ;  and  that  he  assumed  that 
|.  the  same  authority  would  be  attached  to  them  as  to 
!  his  oral  teaching  or  to  a  revelation  of  the  Spirit,  or  to 
t  the  word  of  God  (II.  Thess.  ii.  2).     The  authoritative 
character  of  apostolic  literature  thus  appears  from  its 


FIRST  THESSALONIANS  199 

beginning  to  have  been  acknowledged  by  writer  and 
readers.  At  the  same  time  these  productions  arc  real 
letters,  as  of  a  pastor  to  his  people.  They  were  written 
in  the  conventional  epistolary  form  of  the  day.  In 
them  we  still  feel  the  beating  heart  of  the  writer,  and 
they  deal  with  the  specific  needs  of  his  first  readers. 
This  combination  of  the  personal  and  occasional  with 
the  authoritative  and  universal  is  one  of  their  peculiar 
characteristics. 

203.  The  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  was 
written  partly  out  of  joy  over  their  steadfastness,  and 
partly  because  of  several  perils  which  threatened  them. 
Of  the  latter  there  were  three  in  particular,  the  exist- 
ence of  which  gives  a  suggestive  picture  of  this  early 
Christian  community.  There  was  a  disposition  on  the 
part  of  some  to  neglect  their  daily  work  and  to  fail 
to  exercise  moral  restraint  (I.  Thess.  ii.  9,  10 ;  iv.  1-8, 
11,  12).  There  had  developed,  moreover,  dismay  at 
death,  for  they  feared  that  the  dead  saints  would  lose 
their  part  in  the  coming  kingdom  (iv.  13-18).  There 
were  also  indications  of  friction  between  the  regular 
officers  and  teachers  of  the  church  and  those  who  pro- 
fessed to  have  inspired  spiritual  gifts  (v.  12,  13). 
These  difficulties  were  chiefly  those  of  a  young  com- 
munity just  emerging  from  paganism.  They  arose 
also  out  of  the  excitement  caused  by  the  new  spiritual 
experiences  through  which  the  disciples  had  passed, 
and  out  of  their  vivid,  and  often  crude,  expectation 
of  the  Lord's  return.  But  there  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  any  difficulty  as  to  the  way  of  salvation,  a 
sure  sign  that  the  Judaistic  controversy  had  not  arisen 
among  them.  Indeed  the  absence  of  any  warning 
about  such  errors  proves  that  the  controversy  had  not 


200      EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER  PAUL 

yet  entered  at  all  into  the  apostle's  field  of  work  (sect. 
186). 

204.  This  epistle,  written  under  such  circumstances, 
is  a  warm,  pastoral  exhortation.  It  urges  to  industry 
and  purity  of  life,  and  tells  of  his  anxieties  about  them. 
Only  one  important  doctrinal  passage  occurs,  that, 
namely,  in  which  he  assured  them,  on  the  authority 
of  a  special  revelation  which  he  had  received,  that  dead 
believers  will  not  fail  of  participation  in  the  glory  of 
the  returning  Lord  (iv.  13-18).  It  provides,  however, 
a  graphic  picture  of  the  moral  perils  to  which  these 
early  Christians  were  exposed ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
of  the  large  view  which  the  apostle  took  of  the  new 
life  to  which  they  had  been  called. 

205.  The  Second  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  was 
occasioned  by  further  reports  of  more  specific  trouble 
which  had  arisen  concerning  the  Lord's  advent.  Some 
erroneously  believed  that  "  the  day  of  the  Lord  "  (^.  e. 
the  time  of  final  judgment ;  comp.  Acts  ii.  20 ;  I.  Cor. 
i.  8 ;  iii.  13  ;  v.  5 ;  IL  Cor.  i.  14 ;  I.  Thess.  v.  2)  liad 
already  come,  and  that,  therefore,  the  return  of  Clirist 
might  be  expected  at  any  moment  (ii.  2,  R.  V.).  By 
this  they  were  further  tempted  to  idleness  and  disorder 
(iii.  6-12),  as  well  as  to  doubt  whether  their  persecutions 
were  reconcilable  with  God's  just  judgment  (i.  4,  5). 
The  agitation  was  apparently  increased  by  alleged  rev- 
elations of  the  Spirit  and  interpretations  of  Scripture, 
and  also  by  the  report  of  a  letter  from  Paul  containing 
such  teaching  (ii.  2).  This  made  the  situation  acute, 
and  the  apostle  hastened  to  correct  the  error. 

206.  He  began  by  acknowledging  the  gratitude 
which  he  should  still  feel  for  their  faith  and  love 
amid  persecution,  and  pointedly  reminded  them  that 


SECOND  THESSALONIANS  201 

their  endurance  was  itself  a  proof  of  God's  just 
judgment,  since  it  showed  that  he  had  accepted  them, 
and  would  surely  vindicate  them  in  that  day  when 
Christ  will  return  and  pass  final  sentence  upon  all 
mankind  (i.).  But  he  begged  them  not  to  be  disturbed 
by  the  idea  that  the  day  of  the  Lord  was  present  (ii.  1, 
2).  He  reminded  (comp.  ii.  5)  them  that  before  that 
day  there  would  be  an  apostasy  (doubtless  within  the 
cliurch)  culminating  in  the  appearance  of  "  the  man  of 
lawlessness  "  (or  Antichrist)  who  would  impiously  claim 
the  homage  due  to  God  alone  (ii.  3,  4),  For  the  pres- 
ent, as  they  knew,  the  development  of  this  apostasy 
was  being  checked  (perhaps,  by  the  Spirit) ;  but  "  the 
restrainer,"  would  be  taken  away,  and  then  would  the 
lawless  One  be  revealed  in  Satanic  power,  only,  however, 
to  be  destroyed  by  the  returning  Christ  (ii.  6-12). 
Grateful  was  he,  in  view  of  this  fierce  conflict,  that 
they  had  been  chosen  to  salvation  (ii.  13,  14).  Let 
them,  therefore,  stand  fast  in  his  teaching  (ii.  15-17). 
He  added  a  request  for  .their  prayers  (iii.  1-3),  an  as- 
surance of  his  confidence  in  them  (iii.  4,  5),  and  a 
repeated  command,  sharper  than  before,  to  imitate  him 
in  a  sober  and  industrious  life  and  to  separate  them- 
selves from  all  who  would  not  obey  his  word  (iii.  6-lG). 
In  view  of  the  fact  that  a  letter,  falsely  ascribed  to  him, 
was  said  to  be  in  circulation,  he  called  attention  to  his 
signature  which  was  appended  by  his  own  hand  to 
every  epistle ;  and  closed  with  his  blessing  (iii.  17,  18). 
207.  These  two  epistles  furnish  a  partial,  but  clear 
glimpse  into  the  condition  of  Thcssalonian  Christianity. 
It  is  not  an  ideal  picture.  It  is,  however,  one  which 
might  be  expected  in  a  church  emerging  out  of  pagan- 
ism.    These  early  believers  needed  instruction  about 


202     EXPANSION   OF  CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

the  most  elementary  duties  and  doctrines.  It  required 
the  firm  hand  of  the  apostle  to  prevent  fanaticism  and 
childish  error.  Yet  at  the  same  time  the  genuine  fruits 
of  the  Spirit  were  manifest  among  them,  and  the  central 
truths  of  Christianity  were  firmly  held  and  loyally  con- 
fessed. The  doctrine  chiefly  explained  is  that  of  the 
second  advent  and  the  judgment.  In  I.  Thessalonians 
the  advent  is  presented  as  the  time  of  reward  to  believers 
(i.  10;  ii.  12,  19;  iii.  13;  iv.  15-18;  v.  4,  9,  10).  In 
II.  Thessalonians  it  is  presented  as  the  time  of  judg- 
ment to  the  ungodly  (i.  7,  9 ;  ii.  8).  The  apostle  taught 
a  personal,  physical,  public  return  of  Christ  to  gather 
his  people  into  the  everlasting  kingdom,  and  to  execute 
judgment  upon  all  the  wicked.  He  looked  forward  to 
it  eagerly,  speaking  as  if  he  might  live  to  see  it  {I. 
Thess.  iv.  17)  though  not  saying  that  he  would.  He 
also  taught  that  certain  events  must  happen  first,  and 
that  the  period  before  the  advent,  whether  long  or 
short,  would  be  one  of  conflict  within,  as  well  as 
without,  the  church.  His  teaching  about  the  coming 
"  apostasy  "  and  "  the  man  of  lawlessness "  was  evi- 
dently based  on  the  language  of  Jesus  (comp.  Matt, 
xxiv.,  especially  verses  4,  5,  6,  10,  11, 12,  23,  24).  We 
may  also  see  in  his  words  the  influence  of  the  Book 
of  Daniel  (comp.  Dan.  vii.  23-25 ;  xi.  36).  The  term 
"  man  of  lawlessness  "  seems,  however,  to  be  of  his  own 
coining ;  but  the  expectation  of  apostasy  within  the 
church  and  its  final  embodiment  in  some  mighty  Anti- 
christ is  found  in  the  New  Testament  (e.  g.  Matt.  xiii. 
25 ;  Luke  viii.  13  ;  xviii.  8 ;  I.  Tim.  i.  6-10 ;  iv.  1-3 ; 
vi.  3-5  ;  II.  Tim.  i.  15 ;  iii.  1-8 ;  I.  John  ii.  18-27 ;  II. 
Peter  iii.  3 ;  Rev.  ii.  iii.  xiii.  xvii.  xviii.).  Having  this 
expectation,  Paul  did  not  look  for  a  peaceful  develop- 


THE  RETURN  TO  ANTIOCH  203 

ment  of  the  faith.  The  early  Christians  were  trained 
by  him  for  conflict  with  foes  without  and  within  ;  nor 
is  it  strange  that  they  were  deeply  concerned  in  these 
questions  which  were  made  so  practical  by  their  perse- 
cutions. The  situation  illustrates  the  stir  of  thought 
and  hope,  the  possibilities  of  error  of  every  kind, 
together  with  the  power  of  prevailing  faith,  with  which 
Christianity  arose  among  the  Gentiles. 

208.   After  eighteen  months  in  Corinth,  Paul  turned 
his  face  again  lo  the  east.     Aquila  and  Priscilla  sailed 
with  him  as  far  as  Ephesus  (Acts  xviii.  18,  19),  whence    ; 
he,  after  promising  to  return  (xviii.  20,  21),  took  ship    i 
again  to  Caesarea,     Apparently  he   visited  Jerusalem 
(xviii.  21,  R.V.)  and  then  returned  to  Syrian  Antioch.  , 
He  had  probably  been  absent  about  two  years  and  a  i 
half.     But  the  apostle  now  realized  that  he  had  been 
called  to  a  larger  mission  than  he  had  imagined  when 
he  and  Silas  had  set  forth  from  the  Syrian  city,  and  he 
only  waited  a  few  months  before  entering  upon  another 
campaign. 


IV 

PAUL   IN   EPHESUS 

209.  It  was  probably  in  the  spring  of  a.  d.  54  that 
Paul  left  Antioch  on  what  is  usually  called  his  third 
missionary  journey.  He  had  already  promised  to  visit 
Ephesus,  and  the  Asian  metropolis  was  now  his  object. 
The  former  prohibition  of  the  Spirit  (Acts  xvi.  6)  had 
evidently  been  removed.  He  first  visited  in  order  the 
churches  of  the  Galatian  region  and  Phrygia  (xviii.  23). 
The  order  of  words,  contrasted  with  the  similar  phrase 
in  Acts  xvi.  6,  indicates  that  he  first  went  to  Galatia 
proper.  It  is  possible  that  this  was  due  to  information 
received  in  Antioch  that  the  Judaistic  party  was  carry- 
ing on,  despite  the  decision  of  the  council,  the  propa- 
gation of  their  views,  and  were  threatening  especially 
the  Gentile  churches  which  he  had  founded  ;  for  Gala- 
tians  i.  9  seems  to  state  that  when  last  in  Galatia  he 
had  warned  his  converts  against  such  perversions  of 
the  gospel.  Doubtless,  also,  the  success  of  his  work 
in  Europe  had  increased  the  alarm  and  enmity  of  the 
Judaizers.  It  was  clear  that  under  him  Christianity 
would  become  independent  of  Judaism  and  of  the 
mother  church.  Hence  these  over-zealous  and,  as 
Paul  plainly  called  them  (Gal.  iv.  17 ;  v.  10),  unscru- 
pulous sectarians  determined  to  undo  his  work,  to 
wean  his  converts  away  from  him,  and  to  perpetuate 
the  Mosaic  law  among  the  Gentiles.     It  does  not  ap- 


APOLLOS  205 

pear  that  as  yet  they  had  actually  entered  Galatia ;  but 
it  was  soon  proved  that  Paul  was  right  in  fearing  that 
they  might.  That  his  special  anxiety  was  already 
about  the  Galatians  seems  also  to  follow  from  the  fact 
that  Luke  does  not  report  him  to  have  visited  Lycaonia. 
He  passed  through  Phrygia,  simply  because  it  lay  on 
the  way  from  Galatia  to  Ephesus. 

210.  Before  he  reached  Ephesus,  there  occurred  the 
interesting  fact  of  the  arrival  of  Apollos,  the  eloquent 
Alexandrian  Jew^  who  preached  Jesus  though  knowing 
only  the  baptism  of  John,  and  who,  after  having  re- 
ceived further  instruction  from  Aquila  and  Priscilla, 
passed  on  to  Corinth  and  continued  the  apostle's  work 
in  that  city  (Acts  xviii.  24-28 ;  1.  Cor.  i.  12  ;  iii. 
4-6).  The  incident  illustrates  the  influence  of  John 
the  Baptist  even  outside  of  Palestine,  and  the  spread 
of  faith  in  Jesus  as  the  Messiah  among  some  who  had 
never  come  in  contact  with  the  apostles.  If  Apollos 
had  learned  of  Jesus  in  Alexandria,  he  provides  the 
first  known  evidence  of  the  extension  of  the  gospel  into 
Egypt,  a  land  where  the  beginnings  of  Christianity  are 
quite  obscure,  yet  where  it  was  certainly  flourishing 
early  in  the  second  century.  The  twelve  disciples  also, 
whom  Paul  met  shortly  after  reaching  Ephesus  (Acts 
xix.  1-7),  present  a  similar  instance  of  what  we  may 
call  non-apostolic  Christianity.  As  Judaism  had  pre- 
pared the  way  for  Christianity  among  the  Gentiles,  so 
in  some  measure  had  the  mission  of  John  and  the  re- 
ports about  Jesus  prepared  the  way  among  the  Jews  of 
the  dispersion.  It  was  not  of  an  unknown  personage 
that  the  apostles  spake  when  they  testified  in  the  syna- 
gogues that  Jesus  was  the  Christ.  Here  and  there  actual 
believers  in  him  were  waiting  for  the  full  report. 


206     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIANITY  UNDER  PAUL 

211.  When  Paul  at  last  reached  the  Asian  capital, 
which  he  had  long  desired  to  occupy,  he  entered  on  an 
extended  and  vigorous  campaign.  The  importance  of 
Ephesus  as  a  centre  of  the  faith  is  attested  not  only  by 
his  long  residence,  but  afterwards  by  the  mission  of 
Timothy  to  it,  and  still  later  by  the  residence  in  it  of 
the  apostle  John.  Already  Aquila  and  Priscilla  were 
there,  and  perhaps  still  earlier  the  message  of  Pente- 
cost had  been  brought  (comp.  Acts  ii.  9).  But  with 
Paul's  settlement  in  the  city  the  real  history  of  Ephe- 
sian  Christianity  began.  For  three  months  he  taught 
in  the  Jewish  synagogue  (Acts  xix.  8)  ;  then,  since  the 
Jews  disbelieved,  he  organized  his  disciples  into  a 
church,  and  daily  taught  for  two  years  in  the  school  of 
Tyrannus,  doubtless  a  Greek  lecture-hall  (xix.  9,  10). 
Besides  this,  he  visited  from  house  to  house  among  his 
disciples  (xx.  20).     If  we  assume  that  he  arrived  in 

j  the  autumn  of  A.  d.  54,  the  two  years  and  three  months 
would  reach  to  the  beginning  of  57.  At  that  time  he 
proposed  to  leave  for  Macedonia,  and  sent  Timothy  and 
Erastus  ahead  of  him  (Acts  xix.  21 ;  comp.  I.  Cor.  iv. 
17  ;  xvi.  10) ;  but  he  himself  tarried  longer  (Acts  xix. 
22)  because  of  the  great  work  in  hand  (I.  Cor.  xvi.  8), 
and  other  events  occurred,  pertaining  to  the  church  at 
Corinth,  which  detained  him  till  the  summer  or  early 
autumn  of  A.  D.  57.  His  whole  stay  in  Ephesus,  there- 
fore, amounted  to  three  years  (Acts  xx.  31). 

212.  His  Ephesian  ministry  was  marked  (a)  by  spe- 
cial thorougliness  of  teaching  (Acts  xx.  18-21,  26,  27, 
31),  due  probably  to  his  experience  of  errors  among 
his  earlier  converts  and  to  the  now  known  plans  of  the 
Judaistic  party  ;  (b)  by  extraordinary  miraculous  at- 
testations (Acts  xix.  11,  12;  comp.  II.  Cor.  xii.  12), 


PAUL'S   WORK   IN   EPHESUS  207 

which  seem  to  have  been  intended  specially  to  offset 
and  overcome  the  power  of  magic  and  sorcery  in  Ephesus 
(Acts  xix.  13-19)  ;  (c)  by  varied  and  widespread  suc- 
cess, for  not  only  were  representatives  of  the  most 
diverse  classes,  from  the  common  people  (xix.  26,  27) 
to  the  wealthy  men  who  had  filled  the  position  of 
Asiarch  (xix.  31  ;  comp.  Lightfoot,  Ignatius  and  Poly- 
carp,  Vol.  II.  p.  987;  Hicks,  Expositor,  1890,  p.  401), 
won  by  him  personally,  but  throughout  the  entire 
province  his  influence  extended  (Acts  xix.  10),  while 
his  co-laborers  carried  his  message  to  and  founded 
churches  in  neighboring  cities  (comp.  not  only  Acts 
xix.  22 ;  XX.  4 ;  Col.  iv.  7,  but  also  I.  Cor.  xvi.  19 ; 
Col.  i.  7 ;  ii.  1 ;  iv.  13) ;  (d)  by  fierce  opposition 
(comp.  I.  Cor.  iv.  9-13  ;  xv.  32 ;  xvi.  9  ;  II.  Cor.  iv. 
7-10  ;  vi.  4,  5),  of  which  the  exciting  demonstration 
caused  by  Demetrius,  whose  trade  in  the  shrines  of 
the  temple  of  Artemis  {Ramsay,  St.  Paul  the  Trav. 
p.  277,  etc.)  was  endangered  by  the  progress  of  Paul's 
work  (Acts  xix.  23-41),  was  only  one,  and  prob- 
ably not  the  most  serious,  illustration  (comp.  I.  Cor. 
XV.  32 ;  xvi.  9) ;  and  (e)  finally  by  constant  attention 
to  the  difficulties  existing  in  distant  churches,  the  care 
of  which  pressed  upon  him  daily  (II.  Cor.  xi.  28). 
The  details  of  Paul's  life  in  Ephesus  would  furnish  a 
story  of  physical,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  activit}^ 
marvellous  for  its  intensity  and  versatility.  The  inci- 
dents recorded  in  Acts  are,  however,  less  important 
for  our  purpose  than  the  light  cast  on  apostolic  history  V 
during  Paul's  Ephesian  ministry  by  the  epistles  to  the  \ 
Galatians  and  the  Corinthians. 

213.   The  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  was  written  prob- 
ably soon  after  Paul's  arrival  in  Ephesus.      It  may  be 


/ 


208      EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

assigned  to  the  spring  of  a.  d.  55.  This  is  on  the 
hypothesis,  for  which  reasons  have  been  given  (sect. 
186),  that  it  was  addressed  to  churches  in  Galatia 
proper,  founded  on  the  second  missionaiy  journey.  It 
cannot  indeed  be  proved  that  the  epistle  was  written 
soon  after  his  arrival  in  Ephesus,  for  the  phrase  (Gal.  i. 
6),  "  I  marvel  that  ye  are  so  quickly  removing  from  him 
that  called  you,"  may  refer  to  hasty  action  rather  than 
to  shortness  of  time  since  he  had  been  with  them,  and 
on  any  interpretation  the  phrase  is  quite  vague.  Still 
the  impression  made  by  his  passing  allusions  to  his 
second  visit  to  Galatia  (i.  9  ;  iv.  13)  is  that  it  had  been 
recent ;  he  implies  elsewhere  (II.  Cor.  xi.  28)  that  while 
in  Ephesus  he  had  been  pressed  by  anxiety  about  many 
churches ;  and  the  reason  usually  assigned  for  dating 
the  epistle  later  —  namely,  the  close  connection  of  its 
thought  with  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  —  is  insuffi- 
cient, since  Galatians  presents  the  doctrine  of  salvation 
in  a  much  less  complete  form  than  is  done  in  Romans, 
and  therefore  probably  preceded  the  latter  by  some 
time.  Hence  the  probability  that  this  epistle  was 
written  early  in  the  Ephesian  ministry. 

214.  It  was  occasioned  by  a  report  from  Galatia 
which  fired  the  apostle's  indignation  and  filled  him 
with  grievous  apprehensions.  The  Judaizing  mission- 
aries had  invaded  his  churches  and  had  actually 
succeeded  in  perverting  their  immature  faith.  They 
had  assailed  the  apostle,  too,  as  well  as  his  teaching. 
They  declared  that  he  was  no  apostle,  but  at  best  a 
mere  scholar  of  the  true  apostles ;  that  he  vacillated  in 
his  teaching  to  please  men,  now  opposing  circumcision 
and  now  teaching  it ;  that  the  Galatians  should  look  for 
instruction  to  the  leaders  of  the  mother  church,  and 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  GALATIANS  209 

that  these  were  not  in  sympathy  with  Paul.  Then,  too,  i 
they  taught  the  continued  obligation  of  the  Mosaic  law  | 
as  a  condition  of  salvation  for  all  Christians.  Their 
mission  thus  struck  at  the  very  heart  of  the  gospel  as 
well  as  at  the  authority  of  Paul,  That  they  came  from 
Judea  is  rendered  practically  certain  by  the  appearance 
of  such  teachers  at  the  time  of  the  council  (Acts  xv.  1), 
and  by  the  appeal  which  these  in  Galatia  evidently 
made  to  the  names  of  the  authorities  in  Jerusalem. 
That  they  misrepresented  the  church  in  Jerusalem  and 
her  leaders  is  proved  by  Paul  himself  (ii.  1-10).  He 
charges  them  with  acting  from  selfish  motives  (iv.  17) 
and  stigmatizes  their  party  as  false  brethren  (ii.  4). 
Their  mission  was  thus  a  revival  of  the  old  conflict 
which  the  council  had  sought  to  settle.  They  were 
themselves  faithless  to  the  decision  of  the  mother 
church.  In  the  name  of  Christ  they  preached  Judaism. 
They  had  not  yet  indeed  induced  the  Galatians  to  be 
circumcised,  but  they  had  caused  a  dangerous  reaction. 
Like  Jewish  proselyters  generally,  they  had  begun  by 
recommending  some  of  the  easier  and  more  attractive 
features  of  the  ritual.  The  Galatians  were  now  observ- 
ing "  days  and  months  and  seasons  and  years  "  (iv.  10). 
This  involved  the  recognition  of  the  law  as  binding,  and  | 
the  demand  for  circumcision  would  follow,  if  it  had  not 
been  made.  Paul  saw  that  the  gospel  of  faith  was 
imperilled.  We  can  see  that  the  whole  question  of  a 
universal  and  non-Judaic  religion  was  at  stake,  flence 
this  epistle,  written  in  the  white-heat  of  inspired  indig- 
nation, became  the  magna  charta  of  Christian  universal- 
ism  and  liberty, 

215.    He  first  proceeds,  after  a  brief  introduction,  to 
the  vindication  of  his  independent  apostolic  authority 

14 


210      EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

(i.  11  to  II.  21).  He  had  received  his  gospel  by  immedi- 
ate revelation  from  Christ  (i.  11-12).  Formerly  he 
too  had  been  a  "  Judaizer  "  (i.  13,  14),  but  God  had 
sovereignly  called  him  and  revealed  his  Son  in  him,  that 
he  might  preach  him  among  the  Gentiles  (i.  15,  16). 
In  the  fulfilment  of  this  commission  he  had  not  been 
dependent  for  anything  on  the  older  apostles,  and  for 
years  had  only  on  one  brief  occasion  seen  Peter  and 
James  (i.  17-24).  "When  he  and  Barnabas  went  up  to 
Jerusalem  at  the  time  of  the  council,  he  had  declared 
boldly  the  gospel  which  he  preached  (ii.  1,  2),  and  the 
mother  church  had  approved  his  teaching  against  the 
Judaizers  (ii.  3-5),  while  the  leaders  had  given  him 
the  right  hand  of  fellowship  (ii.  6-10).  He  added 
the  account  of  his  discussion  with  Peter  at  Antioch 
(sects.  163-165)  to  illustrate  further  his  independence, 
and  perhaps  also  to  prevent  any  misuse  of  Peter's  con- 
duct which  the  Judaizers  might  make  (ii.  11-21). 

216.  Turning  next  to  the  doctrine  at  stake  (iii.,  iv.), 
he  exclaimed  at  the  folly  of  the  Galatians  in  forgetting 
the  crucified  Saviour  who  had  been  portrayed  to  them, 
i  in  whose  crucifixion  their  whole  salvation  was  assured 
I  (iii.  1).  Had  not  their  experience  been  conditioned 
upon  faith  alone  ?  (iii.  2-5).  And  was  not  this,  accord- 
ing to  Scripture,  the  original  Abrahamic  way  of  salva- 
tion ?  (iii.  6).  Abraham's  children,  therefore,  to  whom 
the  promise  was  made,  are  not  those  who  keep  the  law, 
but  those  who  believe  (iii.  7-9).  The  law,  since  it 
requires  perfect  obedience  as  the  condition  of  salvation, 
brings  only  a  curse  upon  those  under  it,  and  hence  can- 
not be  the  instrument  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  promised 
blessing  (iii.  10).  It  was  the  work  of  Christ,  as  the  law 
itself  foretold,  to  redeem  us  from  it,  and  for  this  very 


FUNCTION  OF  THE   LAW  211 

purpose  he  accepted  its  curse  by  dying  in  our  place 
that  we  through  him  might  receive  the  promise  and  the 
Spirit  (iii.  11-14).  To  make  this  truth,  which  was  the 
heart  of  the  whole  controversy,  more  clear,  the  apostle 
further  pointed  out  that  since  God  solemnly  ratified  his 
covenant  of  salvation  by  faith  with  Abraham  and  his 
seed,  the  law,  which  came  later,  could  not  disannul  the 
original  arrangement  (iii.  15-18),  but  was  intended  as 
a  temporary  discipline  to  make  sinful  men  realize  that 
sin  is  transgression  of  God's  commandment  (iii.  19, 
20).  It  was,  therefore,  a  tutor  to  bring  men  to  Christ 
(iii.  21-24) :  so  that  by  believing  in  him  who  alone  has 
fulfilled  the  law  for  us,  and  who  is,  with  his  people,  the 
true  seed  of  Abraham,  we  may  inherit  the  promise  in 
him  (iii.  25-29). 

217.  The  apostle  then  added  three  more  reasons 
for  their  fidelity  to  his  gospel  (iv.).  The  first  was  an 
appeal,  based  on  the  analogy  of  Grseco-Roman  customs, 
not  to  go  back  to  a  state  of  infancy  when  the  time  for 
their  entrance  on  the  inheritance  had  come  (iv.  1-11). 
The  second  was  an  appeal  to  their  former  affection  for 
himself  (iv.  12-20).  The  third  was  an  illustration  of  the 
freedom  of  the  true  son  of  Abraham,  drawn  from 
the  narrative  in  Genesis  of  the  relation  to  Abraham  of 
the  sons  of  Sarah  and  Hagar  (iv.  21  to  v.  1).  The  rest 
of  the  epistle  is  a  masterly  application  of  the  principles 
of  the  preceding  chapters.  Its  substance  is  :  (1)  main- 
tain your  liberty  (v.  2-12),  yet  (2)  do  not  abuse  it,  but 
walk  by  the  Spirit  and  bring  forth  his  fruits  (v.  13-25)  ; 
(3)  use  your  liberty  for  the  spiritual  good  of  others 
(v.  26  to  vi.  5),  and  (4)  remember  your  responsibility  in 
its  exercise  (vi.  6-10).  The  letter  ends  with  a  post- 
script (vi.  11-18),  in  the  apostle's  own  handwriting,  in 


212     EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

which  he  summarizes  the  contents  of  the  letter  and 
dismisses  all  further  attacks  upon  him  as  useless,  since, 
as  he  said,  "  I  bear  in  my  body  the  brands  [slave- 
marks]  of  Jesus." 

218.  It  is  impossible  to  overestimate  the  value  of 
this  epistle.  The  relation  of  its  historical  statements 
to  the  narrative  of  Acts  has  been  already  discussed 
(sects.  91-94,  116,  149-152).  Its  chief  importance 
lies  in  its  exhibition  of  the  theological  grounds  on 
which  rested  the  emancipation  of  Christianity  from 
Judaism  and  its  establishment  as  a  universal  religion. 
Chapter  ii.  11-21  shows  that  the  doctrine  of  tlie  epistle 
was  not  a  new  one,  but  was  the  recognized  basis  on 
which  Gentile  Christianity  stood.  The  centre  of  that 
doctrine  was  the  death  of  Christ,  the  significance  of 
which  it  was  especially  Paul's  privilege  to  make  clear. 
Knowing  that  the  divine  law  requires  of  every  man 
righteousness  through  perfect  obedience,  that  no  man 
can  obtain  such  righteousness  through  his  own  works, 
and  that  the  penalty  of  sin  is  death ;  considering  the 
perfect  life  of  Jesus,  and  assured  at  Damascus  of  his 
Messiahship,  —  Paul  was  led  to  realize  that  the  death  of 
Messiah  was  the  divinely  provided  satisfaction  of  the 
law  for  his  people.  At  once  its  mysteriousness  and 
offensiveness  was  removed.  It  became  God's  crown- 
ing act  of  grace.  It  explained  why  faith,  whereby 
the  work  of  Christ  was  appropriated,  had  been  made 
from  the  beginning  the  only  condition  of  salvation. 
With  this,  of  course,  the  obligation  to  observe  the  law 
in  order  to  salvation  passed  away.  Evidently,  too, 
since  the  Scriptures  had  ever  promised  salvation 
through  Christ  and  by  faith,  the  law  had  never  been 
intended  to  be  the  way  of  salvation  at  all.     The  Jews 


TROUBLES  IN  CORINTH  213 

had  misunderstood  its  object.  It  had  only  been  in- 
tended to  prepare  for  Christ  by  awakening  the  sense 
of  guilt.  Its  great  moral  principles,  indeed,  would 
ever  remain  as  a  guide  to  the  interpretation  of  God's 
character  and  will ;  but  its  ceremonial  ordinances  had 
no  further  function.  To  regard  them  as  necessary 
was  in  fact  to  fall  away  from  the  gospel.  To  bind 
them  on  the  believer  was  to  imply  that  Christ  had  died 
in  vain.  Thus  Christianity  was  at  once  delegalized 
and  denationalized.  The  blessing  of  Abraham,  through 
the  work  of  Christ  in  dying  for  sinners,  had  come  to 
the  Gentiles,  and  faith  alone  was  the  condition  of  sal- 
vation for  all  alike.  Of  this  transition  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians  is  the  abiding  monument.  We  may  believe 
that  it  had  its  intended  effect  on  the  Galatians  them- 
selves. The  apostle  anticipated  that  it  would  (v.  10), 
and  later  allusions  to  the  "  churches  of  Galatia  "  (I.  Cor. 
xvi.  1 ;  I.  Pet.  i.  1,  and  perhaps  II.  Tim.  iv.  10),  even  if 
those  addressed  in  the  epistle  may  not  be  exclusively 
intended,  seem  to  imply  that  the  threatened  defection 
was  averted. 

219.  If  the  earlier  part  of  Paul's  residence  ni  Ephe- 
sus  was  made  anxious  by  the  Galatian  churches  the 
latter  part  was  disturbed  by  affairs  in  Corinth.  The 
First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  was  written  probably 
in  the  spring  of  a.  d.  57.  Ciiapter  xvi.  8,  and  possibly 
v.  7,  8,  imply  that  the  spring  was  approaching,  and 
xvi.  5  apparently  refers  to  Paul's  purpose  to  pass 
through  Macedonia  to  Achaia  mentioned  in  Acts  xix. 
21,  22,  which  was  toward  the  close  of  his  sojourn  in 
Ephesus,  and  therefore  in  a.d.  57.  He  had,  however, 
previously  written  a  letter  (v.  9),  which  has  not  been 
preserved,  in  which  he  gave  instructions  concerning 


214    EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

the  attitude  of  the  disciples  to  those  about  them  who 
led  impure  lives.  This  was  a  practical  matter  in  Cor- 
inth, where  the  Christians  were  surrounded  by  a  society 
in  which  the  principles  of  morality  were  constantly 
violated.  His  direction  "  not  to  keep  company  with 
fornicators  "  required  subsequent  explanation  (v.  9-11) ; 
but  it  illustrates  the  sort  of  difiliculties  by  which  the 
Corinthians  were  confronted.  We  learn  further  that 
Timothy  had  been  sent  to  Corinth  (iv.  17  ;  xvi.  10). 
If  this  was  the  mission  mentioned  in  Acts  xix.  21,  he 
was  to  go  by  way  of  Macedonia,  and  the  hesitating 
language  of  I.  Cor.  xvi.  10,  —  "7/"  Timothy  come,"  — 
implies  that  Corinth  was  not  the  sole  object  of  his 
journey,  and  that  he  possibly  might  not  reach  it. 
Hence  we  may  suppose  that  he  was  sent  early  in  57  to 
Macedonia,  ahead  of  the  apostle,  with  directions  to  go 
on  to  Corinth,  if  he  deemed  it  best  to  do  so.  Paul 
expected  him  to  reach  Corinth,  and  directed  the 
church  to  follow  his  instructions  (iv,  17).  After 
Timothy  had  gone,  messengers  arrived  from  Corinth 
with  alarming  reports  (i.  11).  There  was  worse  trouble 
than  association  with  impure  pagans.  Factions  had 
arisen  in  the  church  which  threatened  discord,  if  not 
division.  Then,  too,  we  learn  that  a  delegation  from 
Corinth  had  visited  the  apostle  (xvi.  17).  It  seems  to 
have  brought  a  letter  inquiring  how  the  church  should 
act  in  view  of  certain  perplexing  social  difficulties 
(vii.  1).  Besides  all  this,  other  perils,  practical  and 
doctrinal,  were  reported.  There  were  abuses  in  public 
worship,  extravagant  pride  in  the  more  emotional  and 
less  useful  gifts  of  the  Spirit,  errors  about  the  resurrec- 
tion, and,  worst  of  all,  actual  immorality  in  the  church. 
The  nascent  Cbristianity  of  Corinth  was  evidently  in  a 


FIRST  CORINTHIANS  215 

critical  condition,  and  to  meet  the  emergency  this  epis- 
tle was  written.  It  was  doubtless  carried  to  Corinth 
by  the  returning  delegation. 

220.  In  it  he  takes  up  in  order  the  subjects  on  which 
the  Corinthians  needed  instruction  ;  and  the  epistle  is 
not  only  a  masterly  example  of  the  apostle's  firmness 
and  tact,  but  an  instructive  description  of  the  actual 
situation  of  these  early  Christians.  He  first  reproved 
them  for  the  factious  spirit  of  which  he  had  heard 
(i.  10  to  iv.  21).  Paul  himself,  Apollos,  Peter,  and  even 
Christ  had  become  party  names.  Actual  division  of 
the  church  had  not  resulted,  but  it  easily  might ;  and 
the  situation  implied  a  total  misunderstanding  of  the 
relation  of  their  teachers  to  Christ.  The  Peter-faction 
naturally  implies  the  presence  of  a  Jewish  Christian 
element,  though  not  necessarily  of  Judaizers.  It  does 
not  imply  that  Peter  had  been  at  Corinth.  Acquaint- 
ance with  the  part  he  had  played  in  the  founding  of 
the  church  is  sufficient  to  explain  the  partisanship  of 
those  who  called  themselves  after  him.  The  Christ- 
faction  is  more  of  an  enigma.  Many,  on  the  ground  of 
II.  Corinthians  x.  7  and  xi.  22,  suppose  that  it  was  the 
party  of  the  Judaizers  ;  but  a  more  careful  examination 
of  II.  Corinthians  fails  to  show  that  an  allusion  is  there 
intended  to  any  of  these  factions.  Perhaps  the  best 
explanation  of  the  Christ-faction  is  that  some  were 
disposed  to  reject  all  apostolic  authority  and,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  other  factions,  to  profess  allegiance  to 
Christ  alone. 

221,  The  apostle,  however,  merely  mentions  these 
two,  and  deals  at  length  with  the  Paul  and  Apollos 
factions.  Apollos  had  probably  preached  more  elo- 
quently and   philosophically  than  Paul ;   and,  though 


216     EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER  PAUL 

faithful  to  the  gospel  (iii.  8),  had  aroused  the  specula- 
tive spirit  of  the  Greeks  as  well  as  admiration  for  him- 
self. There  was  danger  of  their  forgetting  the  simple 
message  of  the  Cross.  We  thus  for  the  first  time  see 
Christianity  facing  Hellenism  and  tempted  by  the  pride 
of  philosophical  achievement.  This  gives  peculiar 
interest  to  the  apostle's  treatment.  He  reminded  them 
that  the  Cross  was  and  ever  would  be  foolishness  to 
the  Greek,  as  it  was  an  offence  to  the  Jew ;  and  that  it 
assumed  the  total  failure  of  human  wisdom  to  solve 
the  problem  of  man's  salvation  (i.  18-31).  Hence  he 
had  preached  to  them  Christ  crucified,  without  rhetori- 
cal ornament,  relying  only  on  the  demonstration  of 
the  Spirit  (ii.  1-5).  This,  indeed,  was  not  because  the 
gospel  is  itself  foolishness.  On  tlie  contrary,  it  is  the 
profoundest  wisdom ;  but  a  wisdom  divinely  revealed 
to  chosen  men  (ii.  6-16).  He  and  Apollos  were,  there- 
fore, co-laborers  under  God,  He  had  laid  the  only 
possible  foundation,  and  Apollos  had  builded  on  it ;  but 
the  work  was  God's  (iii.).  Let  not  their  ministers  be 
made  the  heads  of  factions  (iv.  1-5).  Neither  let  any 
despise  bim  and  his  scriptural  teaching  (iv.  6) ;  for, 
though  persecuted  and  hated,  he  was  an  apostle  of  God 
(iv.  7-13).  He  was  also  their  spiritual  father,  whose 
warnings  they  should  lieed,  lest  he  be  forced  to  chastise 
tliem  (iv.  14-21). 

222.  This  important  passage  shows  that  to  Paul  the 
gospel  was  as  distinct  from  Hellenism  as  it  was  from 
Judaism.  It  was  a  direct  revelation  of  salvation  by 
grace  through  a  Redeemer.  Yet  both  Judaism  and 
philosophy  had  negatively  prepared  for  it :  the  former, 
by  producing  througli  the  law  the  sense  of  guilt  and  of 
the  need  of  righteousness ;  the  latter,  by  demonstrat- 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   HELLENISM  217 

ing  the  inability  of  man  to  solve  the  problem  of  salva- 
tion for  himself.  Christianity,  moreover,  provided  the 
blessings  which  Judaism  and  philosophy  had  respect- 
tively  sought,  namely,  righteousness  before  God  and  the 
knowledge  of  God.  It  was,  according  to  Paul,  the 
goal  of  both,  though  both  rejected  it.  It  is  thus  evident 
that  he  realized  the  relation  of  his  message  to  its  entire 
environment.  He  was  neither  dependent  on  the  influ- 
ences about  him  nor  blind  to  their  existence  and 
significance.  To  the  Jew  he  offered  in  the  gospel 
righteousness,  and  to  the  Greek  the  true  wisdom.  He 
did  the  latter,  however,  not  like  Philo,  by  interpreting 
revelation  in  the  interest  of  philosophy,  but  by  stoutly 
maintaining  the  failure  of  philosophy  to  solve  the  prob- 
lem of  salvation,  and  by  presenting  revelation  in  and  by 
Christ  as  the  gate  of  knowledge. 

223.  Tbe  rest  of  this  epistle  is  mainly  occupied  with 
the  practical  difficulties  in  which  the  Corinthians  were 
vitally  concerned.  With  great  indignation  the  apostle 
rebuked  them  for  failure  to  discipline  a  man  who  had 
been  actually  guilty  of  an  incestuous  marriage  (v.). 
There  was,  in  fact,  too  little  regard  for  church  discipline 
among  them  (vi.  1-8)  ;  and  sins  of  impurity  in  particu- 
lar sliould  never  be  regarded  with  indifference  (vi.  9-20). 
He  then  discussed  two  subjects  about  which  they  had 
asked  instruction  (vii.  1  to  xi.  1).  The  first  was  marriage 
and  divorce  (vii.).  In  this  it  is  most  important  to  note 
that  he  commands  fidelity  to  marital  obligations  (3-5) ; 
forbids,  on  the  ground  of  Christ's  command,  any  seeking 
after  divorce  (10,  11)  ;  directs  that  a  marriage  already 
formed  between  a  believer  and  an  unbeliever  should 
not  be  broken,  but  admits  that,  if  the  unbeliever  break 
it  by  desertion,  the  believer  is  released  from  the  bond 


218     EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

(12-16).  While  frankly  avowing  his  preference  for 
the  unmarried  state  "  by  reason  of  the  present  distress  " 
(26),  he  upholds  the  sanctity  of  marriage  and  its  place 
in  Christian  life.  The  other  question  concerned  eating 
food  which  had  been  offered  to  idols  (viii.  1  to  xi,  1).  It 
was  a  difficult  question ;  for  the  food  bought  in  the 
markets  was  consecrated  to  idols,  and  in  any  social 
gathering  the  guests  w^ere  liable  to  be  called  on  to  eat 
or  drink  in  honor  of  a  god.  The  apostle's  directions 
are  bold  and  tactful.  He  lays  down  the  principle  that, 
since  the  idol  is  nothing,  the  food  was  as  good  as  any, 
and  might  be  eaten  freely;  but,  if  the  use  of  it  at 
certain  times  and  places  would  be  understood  to  be  a 
recognition  of  the  idol,  it  should  then  be  avoided,  out  of 
love  to  brethren  who  might  be  made  to  stumble  and 
from  a  desire  to  honor  Christ  (viii.).  This,  he  says, 
was  the  principle  on  which  in  all  things  he  had  acted 
(ix.).  They  should  be  careful  also  not  to  be,  like 
Israel  of  old,  led  away  by  their  pagan  surroundings  ; 
and,  with  specific  reference  to  the  matter  in  hand,  they 
should  remember  that  they  belonged  to  Christ  alone, 
that  all  lawful  things  are  not  always  expedient,  and 
that  they  should  seek  the  good  of  others.  Hence, 
ordinarily  they  might  eat  without  question  ;  but  if,  in  a 
mixed  assembly,  the  food  was  eaten  in  honor  of  an 
idol,  they  should  abstain,  that  none  might  be  made  to 
stumble  (x.  15  to  xi.  1). 

224.  He  next  corrected  abuses  which  existed  in 
public  worship  (xi.  2  to  xiv.  40).  These  reveal  most 
instructively  the  immaturity  of  Christian  life  among 
the  Corinthians  and  their  tendency  to  sensuous  excite- 
ment. Women  sometimes  were  inspired  to  prophesy 
in  public.     Paul  directs  that  they  should  do  so  with 


SPIRITUAL   GIFTS  219 

covered  heads  (xi.  2-16).  Ordinarily  no  woman  should 
teach  in  public  (xiv.  34;  f.  Tim.  ii.  12);  but  if  the 
Spirit  made  an  exception,  modesty  and  feminine  sub- 
jection must  not  be  laid  aside.  Again,  the  love  feasts, 
closing  with  the  Lord's  Supper,  had  become  occasions 
for  actual  revelry.  Paul  insists  that  they  must  be 
observed  reverently,  as  a  religious  act,  in  obedience 
to  the  purpose  of  Christ  in  the  institution  of  the  Supper 
(xi.  17-34).  Then,  at  great  length,  he  deals  with  the 
exercise  of  "spiritual  gifts"  (xii.  to  xiv.).  These 
existed  in  abundance.  The  Spirit  of  Jesus  had  wrought 
mightily  among  them.  But  grave  abuses  had  arisen. 
Spiritual  pride  was  being  manifested.  Emotional  and 
showy  gifts  were  valued  more  highly  than  instructive 
and  helpful  ones.  We  should  remember  that  an  age 
of  miracles  is  not  necessarily  an  ethically  ideal  age, 
but  that  the  same  temptations  operate  in  it  as  at  other 
times.  Paul's  instructions  show  his  clear  insight  into 
the  relation  between  the  miraculous  and  the  ethical. 
He  first  acknowledges  the  necessity  of  the  operation  of 
the  Spirit  for  Christian  life.  He  then  enlarges  upon 
the  variety  of  the  Spirit's  operations  which  secures  the 
full  development  and  real  unity  of  the  body  of  Christ. 
Of  all  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit  he  gives  the  pre-eminence 
to  love,  thus  placing  the  ethical  work  of  the  Spirit  far 
above  his  miraculous  effects.  In  regard  to  the  latter, 
moreover,  those  gifts  should  be  valued  most  which, 
like  prophecy,  edify  the  church.  The  gift  of  "  tongues" 
in  particular  should  be  exercised  with  restraint.  It 
was  the  emotional  utterance,  in  unintelligible  sounds, 
of  the  soaring  thoughts  of  the  soul ;  the  outcries  of 
a  mind  rapt  in  praise  or  prayer  (corap.  sects.  33,  34). 
It  was  adapted  to  private  devotion,  and  sliould  not  be 


220      EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY  UNDER  PAUL 

indulged  in  public  unless  one  having  the  gift  of  "  in- 
terpretation"  were  present.  It  is  evident  that  the 
ordinary  worship  of  these  early  Christians  did  not 
follow  a  prescribed  order,  but  that  the  Spirit  moved 
different  persons  to  take  part  according  to  his  gifts. 
But  Paul  points  out  that  the  purpose  of  the  Spirit 
should  be  kept  rigidly  in  view  ;  for  his  manifestations 
did  not  carry  the  assembly  away,  but  were  subject  to 
the  control  of  the  recipients.  Didactic  and  moral 
results  were  the  Spirit's  object.  Edification  of  the 
church  should  therefore  be  the  guiding  motive  in  their 
public  exercises.  There  can  be  no  better  proof  than 
these  instructions  that,  although  early  Christian  life 
with  its  supernatural  features  was  liable  to  the  excesses 
by  which  belief  in  miraculous  powers  is  always  tempted, 
the  apostle  himself  accurately  distinguished  the  ethical 
and  didactic  from  its  miraculous  accompaniments,  and 
thus  brought  out  those  elements  of  Christian  life  which 
were  to  be  permanent  and  universal. 

225.  Finally,  the  one  doctrinal  subject  by  which 
some  in  Corinth  were  disturbed  is  taken  up,  namely, 
J  the  resurrection  (xv.).  Doubts  on  this  point  probably 
arose  from  philosophical  influences.  They  do  not 
appear  to  have  been  widespread  (xv.  12) ;  so  their 
refutation  is  reserved  for  the  end  of  the  letter.  Yet 
they  touched  a  fundamental  truth,  and  were  likely  to 
arise  again  as  Christianity  made  its  way  in  the  face  of 
Hellenism.  So  Paul  reminds  his  readers  that  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  was  a  fundamental  fact  of  the 
gospel,  rehearses  the  apostolic  evidence  for  it  (1-11), 
and  argues  that,  as  without  Christ's  resurrection  their 
whole  faith  was  vain,  so  did  it  involve  the  future 
resurrection  of  believers  (12-19).     The  latter  will  take 


RESURRECTION  OF  TIIE  DEAD  221 

place  at  the  second  advent,  an^  will  be  part  of  Christ's 
completed  victory  over  death  (20-28).  He  begs  them 
to  remember  the  fundamental  character  of  this  belief 
(29-34) ;  and,  in  reply  to  the  speculative  inquiry, "  how 
are  the  dead  raised,"  illustrates  its  possibility  by  the 
way  in  which  God  gives  a  new  body  to  the  seed  cast 
into  the  soil ;  explains  that  objections  based  on  our 
knowledge  of  the  present  natural  body  do  not  hold 
good  of  the  future  spiritual  body ;  affirms  the  identity 
of  the  two,  yet  the  vast  differences  between  them, 
since,  though  both  are  material,  the  one  is  the  organ 
of  the  present  natural  life  and  the  other  will  be  the 
perfect  organ  of  the  glorified  spirit;  and  closes  with 
a  magnificent  exposition  of  the  resurrection  as  the  , 
completion  of  redemption  (35-58).  It  is  to  be  observed 
that  this  teaching  is  a  further  and  consistent  explica- 
tion of  the  subject  of  the  second  advent  previously 
taught  to  the  Thessalonians. 

226.  The  epistle  closes  with  directions  about  certain 
gifts  from  his  Gentile  churches  which  he  was  collecting 
for  the  brethren  in  Judea  and  with  items  of  personal 
news  (xvi.).  These  gifts  were  a  matter  about  which 
he  was  much  concerned.  They  were  his  practical 
answer  to  the  charges  of  disloyalty  to  his  nation  and 
of  hostility  to  the  mother  church.  Hence  he  directs 
the  Corinthians  to  prepare  their  contribution. 

227.  The  despatch  of  this  long  and  careful  epistle 
did  not  end  the  apostle's  anxiety  about  the  church  at 
Corinth.  In  fact  the  closing  months  of  his  stay  in 
Ephesus  were  full  of  distress  on  their  account.  The 
facts  can  only  be  gleaned  from  II.  Corinthians,  written  . 
after  he  had  left  Ephesus.  From  this  it  appears  that 
he  made  a  brief  visit  to  Corinth  in  much  distress,  to 


222     EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY    UNDER   PAUL 

which  he  afterwards  looked  back  with  deep  sorrow 
(11.  Cor.  ii.  1 ;  xii.  14  ;  xiii.  1,  2).  This  must  have 
been  after  sending  our  I.  Corinthians,  since  it  contains 
no  reference  to  the  visit.  It  is  a  probable  supposition 
that  he  had  heard,  perhaps  through  Timothy,  that  the 
church  refused  to  exercise  discipline  upon  the  incestu- 
ous person,  and  that  therefore  he  himself  hastened  to 
Corinth,  and  with  much  sorrow,  and  apparently  in  the 
face  of  opposition  (II.  Cor.  xii.  21),  pronounced  the 
sentence.  It  would  seem  that  he  then  returned  to 
Ephesus,  but  only  to  be  further  distressed,  by  the  re- 
port that  his  discipline  had  not  secured  the  peace  of 
the  church.  In  fact,  the  condition  of  affairs  grew 
worse.  Judaistic  emissaries,  bitterly  hostile  to  Paul, 
had  gone  to  Corinth  (II.  Cor.  iii.  1 ;  xi. ;  xiii.)  ;  and 
there  was  one  member  of  the  church  who  openly  de- 
fied his  authority  (II.  Cor.  ii.  5,  10  ;  vii.  11,  12).  It 
is  most  probable  that  this  offender  was  the  same  in- 
cestuous person,  and  that  he  had  rebelled,  after  Paul's 
judgment  upon  him,  against  the  apostle  himself.  We 
infer  also  that  the  Judaistic  emissaries  had  supported 
his  rebellion.  Thus  there  was  now  a  distinct  anti- 
paulino  party  in  Corinth.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  the 
apostle's  distress.  We  judge  it  to  be  this  to  which  he 
refers  (II.  Cor.  i.  8-14)  as  so  intense  that  he  almost 
despaired  of  life.  This  language  will  not  appear  too 
strong  if  we  remember  that  his  character  was  assailed 
(II.  Cor.  i.  17 ;  x.  2,  10),  that  his  converts  were  being 
turned  against  him  (II.  Cor.  vii.  2,  7),  and  that  his 
work  might  be  undone  (xi.  3,  13,  14).  Under  these 
circumstances  he  sent  his  trusted  friend  Titus,  with 
an  unnamed  brother,  to  Corinth  with  sharp  directions 
to  act  at  once  in  the  further  discipline  of  the  offender 


PAUL'S   ANXIETY  223 

and  in  securing  the  peace  and  loyalty  of  the  church 
(II.  Cor.  ii.  13;  vii.  6,  7,  13-15;  xi.  18).  It  is  also 
probable  that  Titus  carried  a  brief,  stern  letter  from 
the  apostle,  written  with  many  tears,  commanding 
obedience  to  his  behests.  The  existence  of  this  second 
lost  jettci^  is  to  be  inferred  from  II.  Corinthians  ii.  3,  4, 
9 ;  vii.  8,  which  can  hardly  refer  to  our  I.  Corinthians. 
Tii  this  letter  Paul  explained  that  he  did  not  go  himself 
to  Corinth,  because  he  did  not  wish  to  visit  them  again 
in  grief.  He  seems  also  to  have  stated  that  it  had 
been  his  purpose  to  go  directly  to  them  and  thence  to 
Macedonia  (II.  Cor.  i.  16),  instead  of  the  opposite  as 
originally  intended  (I.  Cor.  xvi.  5),  but  that  he  could 
not  bear  to  see  them  under  the  circumstances.  So 
Titus  departed  on  this  difficult  mission.  He  was  to 
meet  Paul,  with  his  report,  at  Troas ;  for  the  apostle 
intended  soon  to  leave  Ephesus.  But  when,  in  the 
early  fall  of  a.  d.  57,  Paul  reached  Troas,  Titus  was 
not  there,  and  the  apostle's  distress  was  intensified 
(II.  Cor.  ii.  12,  13).  It  is  a  very  pathetic  picture  of 
the  great  missionary  which  these  facts  furnish.  His 
Ephesian  ministry,  successful  though  it  was,  closed 
under  this  heavy  cloud.  The  cloud,  however,  was 
destined  soon  to  lift  and  his  bitter  experience  to  be  a 
cause  of  thanksgiving,  because  of  the  spiritual  good 
which  finally  came  to  him  and  to  all  out  of  the  trial 
(II.  Cor.  i.  1-7;  ii.  14-17;  vii.  9-16). 


V 

FROM    EPHESUS    TO    ROME 

228.  Not  having  found  Titus  at  Troas,  Paul  passed 
over  to  Macedonia,  doubtless  to  Philippi  (Acts  xx.  1 ; 
II.  Cor.  ii.  13).  Yet  his  distress  of  mind  did  not 
cease.  As  he  himself  puts  it, "  Without  were  fightings, 
within  were  fears  "  (II.  Cor.  vii.  5).  At  last  comfort 
was  restored  by  the  arrival  of  Titus  and  the  report 
which  he  brought.  The  Corinthians  had  obeyed  their 
apostle  and  disciplined  the  offender ;  and  the  man  him- 
self was  now  filled  with  sorrow  for  his  sin  (II.  Cor.  ii. 
5-11).  The  majority,  too,  had  with  deep  repentance 
vindicated  themselves  from  apparent  complicity  in  his 
sin  and  assured  the  apostle  of  their  loyalty  (II.  Cor. 
vii.  9-12).  Thus  the  main  cause  of  Paul's  distress  was 
removed.  Yet  there  was  still  a  disaffected  minority, 
and  the  work  of  the  Judaizers  had  not  ceased. 

229.  In  these  circumstances  our  II.  Corinthians  was 
written  in  the  early  autumn  of  A.  D.  57.  It,  too,  was 
intrusted  to  Titus,  who  was  sent  back  to  Corinth  with 
two  others,  one  of  whom  had  l^een  appointed  by  the 
Macedonian  churches  to  be  their  representative  in 
bearing  their  gifts  to  Jerusalem  (II.  Cor.  viii.  18-22). 
The  main  duty  of  Titus  was  now  to  complete  the  gifts 
of  the  Corinthians  which  Paul  proposed,  after  visiting 
Corinth,  to  carry  to  Judea.  He  took  the  opportunity 
in  this  letter  of  pouring  out  the  feelings  of  his  lately 


SECOND  CORINTHIANS  225 

distraught  but  now  comforted  mind  to  his  dear  dis-  | 
ciples.  It  was  written  with  unusual  emotion.  It  re-  | 
fleets  the  agony  through  which  he  had  been  passing. 
It  is  an  unequalled  revelation  of  the  personality  of  the 
apostle.  In  it  he  relates  his  religious  experience,  de- 
scribes his  actions  and  his  motives,  justifies  his  author- 
ity, pours  out  his  love,  reviews  his  life,  rebukes  and 
pleads,  chastises  his  traducers  and  cheers  his  friends ; 
and  all  with  a  rush  of  language  and  sudden  transitions 
of  thought  which  betray  the  highly  wrought  condition 
of  his  mind.  No  otlier  of  his  letters  is  so  autobio- 
graphical. In  none  are  we  permitted  to  approach  so 
near  to  the  personal  life  of  the  apostle. 

230.  The  epistle  is  divided  into  three  well-marked 
sections.  The  first  (i.  to  vii.)  deals  with  the  distress 
through  which  he  had  been  passing  on  their  account, 
and  then  gives  a  glowing,  yet  pathetic,  description  of 
the  character  of  his  ministry.  It  is  an  outpouring  of 
his  soul,  a  laying  bare  of  his  very  heart  to  his  beloved 
children,  in  which  it  is  easy  to  see  his  sensitiveness  to 
the  attacks  which  had  been  made  upon  him  and  his  joy 
in  the  restored  fidelity  of  his  converts.  The  second 
section  (viii.,  ix.)  urges  to  liberality  in  their  gifts  for  the 
Judean  saints,  and  directs  them  to  receive  Titus  and 
other  brethren  who  were  about  to  visit  them  in  this 
interest.  The  third  section  (x.  to  xiii.)  is  an  indignant 
defence  of  his  apostleship,  evidently  directed  against 
the  Judaizers,  to  whom  a  passing  allusion  had  already 
been  made  (iii.)  and  to  a  minority  in  Corinth  who  sided 
with  them.  It  is  w^^n  in  the  apostle's  most  vehe- 
ment style,  and  contSw  not  a  few.  references  to  events 
in  his  history  otherwise  unknown  (xi.  23  to  xiii.  2). 

231.  After  Titus,  with  the  other  brethren,  had  re- 

15 


226    EXPANSION   OF  CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

turned  to  Corinth,  Paul  appears  to  have  further  visited, 
'  during  the  autumn  of  a.  d.  57,  the  churches  of  Mace- 
]  donia  (Acts  xx.  2).  He  went  as  far  as  the  boundary 
i  of  Illyricum  (Rom.  xv.  19).  Finally  he  reached 
Corinth,  where  he  abode  three  months  (Acts  xx.  3). 
No  incidents  of  this  winter  in  Corinth  have  been  pre- 
served. We  may  believe,  however,  that  he  finally 
adjusted  the  remaining  difficulties  in  that  church,  and 
we  know  that  he  received  its  contributions  for  the 
Judean  saints  (Rom.  xv.  25-28).  With  him  was  a  con- 
siderable company  of  friends  (Acts  xx.  4  ;  Rom.  xvi. 
21-23).  Some  of  them  were  to  accompany  him  to 
Jerusalem  as  representatives  of  the  contributing 
churches,  for  he  was  unwilling  to  have  the  money  in 
,  his  sole  charge  (II.  Cor.  viii.  20). 
fi'  232.  It  was,  however,  during  this  winter  at  Corinth 
( that  Paul  wrote  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  this 
important  letter  throws  additional  light  on  the  entire 
situation.  We  suddenly  find  from  it  that  Christianity 
was  being  preached  vigorously  in  the  world's  capital. 
Its  beginnings  there  are  shrouded  in  obscurity.  It  is 
possible  that  some  of  the  "  sojourners  from  Rome  " 
(Acts  ii.  10,  R.  V.)  carried  it  back  after  Pentecost.  It 
is  possible  that  some  of  those  who  fled  from  Jerusalem 
after  the  death  of  Stephen  travelled  as  far  as  Italy 
(Acts  viii.  4).  We  have  already  alluded  to  the  inter- 
pretation put  by  some  on  the  decree  of  Claudius  as  im- 
plying that  Christianity  had  caused  contentions  in  the 
Jewish  colony  by  the  Tiber  (see  sect.  197).  But  this 
epistle  throws  the  first  clear  ^^^t  upon  the  subject. 
From  it  we  learn  that  the  progUis  of  the  new  religion 
in  Rome  was  already  widely  known  among  the  churches 
(i.  8, 13 ;  xvi.  19).    It  must  then  have  existed  for  several 


CHRISTIANITY  AT  ROME  227 

years.  The  Roman  Christians,  moreover,  possessed  the 
gifts  of  the  Spirit  and  some  organization  (xii.  7,  8). 
Yet  the  epistle  is  not  addressed  to  "  the  church  at 
Rome,"  but  "  to  all  who  are  in  Rome,  beloved  of  God," 
a  phraseology  which  suggests  that  their  organization 
was  not  compact  or  unified.  This  inference  is,  perhaps, 
confirmed  by  the  allusion  to  several  groups  of  believers 
in  the  capital  (xvi.  3-5, 14,  15  ;  yet  comp.  I.  Cor.  xvi. 
19).  The  impression  given,  however,  is  that  of  a  large 
but  imperfectly  organized  community.  They  are  ad- 
dressed as  Gentiles  (i.  6,  13 ;  xi.  13,  30  ;  xv.  8-13,  15, 
16),  and  as  trained  in  Pauline  teaching  (ii.  16 ;  vi.  17 ; 
xiv.  1-14) ;  yet  evidently  they  included  also  not  a  few 
Jews  (ii.  17  to  iii.  20 ;  xiv.  1 ;  xv.  10 ,  xvi.  3,  7,  11). 
The  closing  salutations  are  especially  instructive 
(comp.  Lightfoot,  Philippians,  p.  171),  and  show  that 
Paul  had  many  friends  in  Rome.  Some  of  them  had 
worked  with  him  elsewhere  (xvi.  3,  5-7,  13).  They 
had  evidently  gone  to  the  capital  from  Pauline  churches. 
We  are  not  to  suppose,  indeed,  that  his  friends  were  the 
only  missionaries  on  the  ground ;  but  the  epistle  shows 
that  his  mission  to  Europe  had  already  embraced  in- 
directly the  metropolis  of  the  world.  So  far  as  our 
information  goes,  these  friends  of  Paul  were  the 
founders  of  Roman  Christianity.  With  this  accords 
the  contemptuous  and  evasive  allusion  to  the  Christians 
by  the  elders  of  the  Jewish  colony,  when  Paul  after- 
wards addressed  them  (Acts  xxviii,  22). 

233.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  Paul  wrote 
to  the  Christians  of  Rome.  But  his  doing  so  when  and 
as  he  did  is  highly  significant.  He  had  long  wished  to 
preach  in  Rome  (Acts  xix.  21 ;  II.  Cor.  xi.  16 ;  Rom. 
i.  9,  10,  13  ;  XV.  23,  24,  28),  and  to  go  from  thence  to 


228      EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

Spain  (Rom.  xv.  28),  but  had  been  prevented.  Now  he 
was  about  to  return  to  Jerusalem,  and  knew  not  what 
might  befall  him  (Rom.  xv.  30,  31 ;  Acts  xx.  22,  23). 
He  naturally  wished  to  send  a  message  to  his  friends 
in  the  capital,  and  to  explain  that  in  returning  eastward 
he  was  not  relinquishing  his  purpose  to  visit  them. 
But  why  did  he  write  so  elaborate  a  letter  ?  It  is  not, 
except  incidentally  (e.g.  i.  5  ;  xv.  17-21),  a  defence  of 
himself  and  his  apostleship.  Neither  is  it,  except  again 
incidentally  {e.  g.  ii.  17,  etc.),  or  from  the  very  nature 
of  the  argument,  a  polemic  against  either  Jews  or 
Judaizers,  or  followers  of  his  own  school  who  had  fallen 
into  error.  Still  less  is  its  motive  the  conciliation  of 
different  parties.  Its  purpose  is  chiefly  didactic.  It 
is  an  elaborate  presentation  of  the  way  of  salvation, 
argued  with  superb  dialectical  completeness.  Why, 
then,  did  he  send  this  statement  to  Rome  ?  The  prob- 
able answer  is  very  instructive.  He  evidently  realized 
the  future  importance  of  the  church  at  Rome.  He  had 
long  believed  that  Christianity  would  become  the  reli- 
gion of  the  empire ;  and  he  knew  that,  as  his  plan  of 
evangelizing  the  great  cities  must  culminate  in  the 
evangelization  of  the  capital,  so  the  Christianity  of  the 
capital  would  be  likely  to  determine  that  of  the  world. 
In  this  he  reveals  the  statesman  as  well  as  the  mis- 
sionary. He  knew  further  that  his  gospel  would  con- 
tinue to  be  attacked  and  that  his  Judaizing  antagonists 
were  following  westward  in  his  tracks.  Already  they 
had  invaded  Corinth.  The  controversy  with  them 
also  had  brought  to  full  expression  the  true  gospel ; 
and  Paul's  own  mind,  which  ever  sought  completeness 
of  truth,  impelled  him  to  a  formal  statement  of  it 
The  Epistle  to  the  Romans  therefore  illuminates  the 


EPISTLE   TO  THE   ROMANS  229 

whole  situation,  and  illustrates  the  broad  intelligence 
with  which  Paul  laid  the  foundations  of  Christianity 
in  the  empire. 

234.  Hence  in  this  epistle  the  conception  of  Chris- 
tianity as  a  scheme  of  salvation  is  elaborately  wrought 
out.  The  apostle  characteristically  presents  it  as  the 
revelation  of  a  righteousness  provided  by  God  for  the 
believer  (i.  16,  17).  He  proves  at  length  the  univer- 
sal want  of  such  a  righteousness,  by  the  Jew  as  well 
as  by  the  Gentile  (i.  18  to  iii.  20).  He  then  describes 
the  righteousness  revealed  in  the  gospel  as  provided 
by  Christ's  redeeming  death,  through  which  God  has 
made  it  possible  for  him,  the  righteous  one,  to  declare 
the  believer  free  from  guilt  (iii.  21-26).  This  way  of 
salvation  is  then  shown  to  have  been  that  whereby 
Abraham,  the  father  of  Israel,  was  saved  (iii.  27  to  iv. 
21) ;  to  be  implied  in  the  Christian's  experience  of 
salvation  by  the  mere  grace  of  God  (v.  1-11) ;  and  to 
proceed  on  the  same  principle  of  moral  government  on 
which  God  had  dealt  with  the  race  in  the  person  of 
its  first  representative,  Adam  (v.  12-21).  The  objec- 
tions to  this  doctrine  which  would  be  inevitably  raised 
are  next  acutely  discussed  (vi.,  vii.),  and  the  scheme  is 
shown  to  make  provision  for  the  sanctification  of  the 
believer  as  well  as  for  his  justification,  and  for  the 
glorification  of  both  his  body  and  his  soul  (viii.). 

235.  Yet  the  apostle  was  not  content  to  present  a 
mere  scheme  of  doctrine.  He  fully  realized  the  diffi- 
culty offered  by  the  fact  that  Israel  denied  and 
rejected  what  he  declared  to  be  the  teaching  of  her 
own  Scriptures.  It  was  necessary  for  personal,  his- 
torical, and  dogmatic  reasons  that  he  should  reconcile 
this  fact  with  his  argument.     He  did  this  in  chapters 


230     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIANITY  UNDER  PAUL 

ix.  to  xi.  He  maintained  that  God's  purpose  had 
always  referred  to  a  sovereignly  chosen  portion  of  the 
Hebrew  nation,  which  election  He  had  the  right  to 
make  (ix.) ;  that  the  rejection  of  Israel  as  a  nation  and 
salvation  by  faith  has  been  explicitly  announced  by  the 
prophets  (x.)  ;  yet  that  the  rejection  was  not  final,  but 
that  eventually  the  Hebrews  would  obtain  the  fulfil- 
ment of  all  the  promises  (xi.).  Thus  the  scheme  of 
salvation,  revealed  in  Christianity,  was  adjusted  to  the 
historical  situation. 

236.  This  epistle,  then,  is  the  monument  of  Pauline 
teaching  concerning  the  way  of  salvation.  All  its  doc- 
trinal presuppositions  are  Hebrew.  Its  conception  of 
God  as  the  sovereign,  holy,  and  omnipotent  governor 
of  the  universe ;  of  righteousness  as  his  attribute  and 
his  requirement ;  of  salvation  through  an  imputed 
righteousness  based  on  redemption  ;  and  of  the  relation 
of  the  race  to  Adam,  are  of  Hebrew  origin.  The 
absence  of  Hellenic  influence  is  sufficiently  proved  by 
its  teaching  the  participation  of  the  body  in  the  bene- 
fits of  redemption.  The  only  indication  of  non- 
Hebraic  ideas  may  be  found  in  the  doctrine  of  adojjtioii 
(viii.  15  ;  Gal.  iv.  5),  which  may  have  been  suggested 
by  Roman  customs.  The  teaching  of  this  epistle  is 
therefore  the  direct  unfolding  of  the  ideas  with  which 
Paul  began  his  Christian  life.  Yet  it  is  not  the  prod- 
uct of  a  doctrinaire.  It  keeps  close  to  life.  It  does 
not  forget  that  truth  is  in  order  to  holiness.  To  it, 
imputed  righteousness  is  the  basis  for  personal  growth 
in  sanctification.  Legal  union  with  Christ  involves  a 
vital  union  and  the  devotion  of  the  heart  and  will  to 
God.  If  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  is  the  magna 
charta  of   universal   Christianity,   the  Epistle  to   the 


JOURNEY  TO  JERUSALEM  231 

Romans  is  its  £onstitution.  Here  the  missionary  and 
theologian  gives  his  completest  interpretation  of  the 
work  of  Jesus  for  the  salvation  of  all  who  will  believe. 

237.  From  Corinth  Paul  and  his  companions  set 
forth  for  Jerusalem  in  the  spring  of  a.  d.  58.  It  was 
at  first  his  plan  to  go  directly  by  sea  to  Syria,  but  a  plot 
of  the  Jews  led  to  a  change  of  route  (Acts  xx.  3). 
AtJPhilippi  Luke  joined  the  party  (xx.  4-6),  and  he 
describes  the  journey  with  great  minuteness  (xx.  7  to 
xxi.  16).  It  followed  the  coast  of  Asia,  thence  crossed 
to  Tyre,  thence  to  Ptolemais,  and  so  to  Caasarea. 
Paul  was  anxious  to  reach  Jerusalem  by  Pentecost 
(xx.  16),  doubtless  because  that  was  the  feast  at  which 
freewill  offerings  were  made  by  the  Jews.  Hence  he 
did  not  visit  Ephesus,  but  met  the  elders  of  that  church 
at  Miletus,  where  he  took  an  affectionate  farewell  of 
them  (xx.  17-38).  At  Tyre  the  disciples  besought 
him  not  to  endanger  his  life  at  Jerusalem,  for  the 
Spirit  warned  them  of  the  peril  he  was  facing  (xxi.  4) ; 
but  he  resolutely  went-  forward.  Again  at  Coesarca, 
where  they  lodged  in  the  house  of  Philip,  the  prophet 
Agabus  predicted  that  bonds  awaited  him  ;  but,  when 
he  resisted  all  efforts  to  dissuade  him,  some  of  the 
disciples  accompanied  him  to  Jerusalem  and  took  him 
to  the  house  of  Mnason,  a  Cypriote,  with  whom  he 
could  lodge  in  safety  (xxi.  9-16).  Thus,  fully  aware 
of  the  dangers  which  confronted  him,  the  apostle 
bore  to  the  mother  church  the  gifts  of  the  Gentile 
Christians. 

238.  He  was  received  cordially  by  James  and  the 
elders ;  but  they  were  anxious  about  his  reception  by 
the  church,  because  of  the  reports  that  in  his  foreign 
work   he  had  taught  Jews  to  forsake  Moses.     They 


232     EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY  UNDER   PAUL 

proposed  that  he  show  publicly  his  respect  for  the  law 
by  joining  in  the  rites  of  purification  about  to  be  under- 
gone by  four  brethren  who  had  taken  a  vow,  and  by  de- 
fraying their  expenses.  To  this  he  consented  ;  but  the 
act  of  conciliation  resulted  in  the  very  trouble  it  was 
intended  to  prevent.  Certain  Jews  from  Asia  saw  him 
in  the  temple,  and  circulated  a  false  story  that  he  had 
brought  Gentiles  into  the  sacred  place.  A  fierce  riot 
followed,  which  would  have  resulted  in  Paul's  death 
had  not  the  captain  of  the  Roman  guard  in  the  adja- 
cent castle  of  Antonia  intervened.  He  supposed  Paul 
to  be  an  Egyptian  Jew  who  had  previously  made  a 
sedition  and  escaped  (Jos.,  Antiq.  xx.  8.  6).  Dis- 
covering his  mistake,  he  allowed  the  apostle  to  address 
the  people  from  the  castle  steps.  They  listened  to  him 
till  he  uttered  the  word  "  Gentiles,"  when  the  riot 
broke  out  afresh,  and  Lycias,  the  captain,  hurried  him 
into  the  castle.  He  was  only  prevented  from  examin- 
ing his  prisoner  by  scourging  through  the  latter's  re- 
vealing his  Roman  citizenship  (Acts  xxi.  17  to  xxii.  29). 
239.  On  the  next  day  Lycias  took  him  befoi-e  the 
Sanhedrim,  that  the  Jewish  court  might  adjudicate 
his  case  (xxii.  30).  It  was  a  perilous  position  for  the 
apostle,  and  we  can  hardly  blame  him  for  resorting  to 
a  strategy.  He  declared  himself  a  Pharisee  and  that 
he  was  accused  for  teaching  the  resurrection  (xxiii. 
1-6),  This  was  certainly  only  a  half-truth.  Probably 
in  less  excited  times  it  would  not  have  helped  him. 
But  in  this  case  it  served  his  purpose,  for  the  council 
divided  and  broke  up  in  confusion  (xxiii.  7-10).  We 
should  remember  too,  in  further  explanation  of  the 
result,  that  many  of  the  Pharisees  were  not  unfriendly 
to  the  Christians.     The  course  of  events  was  thus  to 


THE   CESAREAN   IMPRISONMENT  233 

Paul's  advantage  ;  and  that  night  he  was  further  en- 
couraged by  a  vision  in  which  the  Lord  assured  him 
that  he  should  see  Rome  (xxiii.  11). 

240.  The  discovery  of  a  plot  of  certain  Jews  to  slay 
the  prisoner,  led  Lycias  at  once  to  transfer  him  to 
Felix,  the  procurator,  at  Caesarea  (xxiii.  12-30).  Tlie 
apostle  was  now  safe  from  violence  in  the  hands  of  tlie 
Roman  authorities  (xxiii.  31-85)  ;  but  his  first  trial 
before  the  procurator  was  uusatisfactory.  To  the 
accusation  of  the  Jews  that  he  was  guilty  of  sedition 
and  of  defiling  the  temple  (xxiv.  1-9),  he  replied  with 
a  demand  for  witnesses  to  prove  the  charge  (10-21). 
Felix,  who  knew  something  of  the  Christians  (22),  put 
his  decision  off,  and  for  two  years  the  apostle  remained 
a  prisoner  in  Caesarea.  The  procurator,  in  fact,  was  hop- 
ing for  a  bribe  (26)  ;  so  he  delayed  the  case  until  his 
recall  to  Rome  left  it  for  the  disposition  of  his  suc- 
cessor (27). 

241.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  how  the 
apostle  was  occupied  during  his  Caesarean  imprison- 
ment. His  friends  were  allowed  to  see  him,  and  Felix, 
with  his  wife  Drusilla,  listened  occasionally  to  his  mes- 
sage (xxiv.  23-25).  In  fact  the  apostle  seems  to  have 
been  treated  with  marked  consideration.  He  was  evi- 
dently regarded  as  a  person  of  importance.  Professor 
Ramsay,  in  view  of  Paul's  whole  conduct  at  this  pei'iod, 
in  view  also  of  Felix's  hope  of  a  bribe  and  the  expense 
involved  in  the  subsequent  appeal  to  Caesar,  as  well  as 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  Paul  lived  in  Rome  in  his  own 
hired  house,  draws  the  inference  that  in  some  way  the 
apostle  had  come  into  the  possession  of  considerable 
property  (St.  Paul  the  Trav.  p.  310).  This  is  not  incon- 
sistent with  his  earlier  support  of  himself  by  manual 


234     EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER  PAUL 

labor  (I.  Thess.  ii.  9 ;  Acts  xviii.  3  ;  xx.  34),  nor  with  his 
acceptance,  both  at  former  and  later  times,  of  gifts 
from  friends  (Phil.  iv.  15,  18).  The  treatment  he  re- 
ceived, however,  may  have  been  due  to  the  high  stand- 
ing of  his  family  (sect.  66),  But  these  two  years  could 
hardly  have  been  spent  in  idleness,  though  the  confine- 
ment must  have  been  an  irksome  restraint  on  the  tire- 
less energy  of  the  prisoner.  We  cannot,  indeed,  accept 
1  the  view  that  any  of  his  extant  epistles  were  written  in 
'  Csesarea  (sect.  250).  Yet  he  may  have  kept  in  communi- 
cation with  his  churches,  and  he  may  have  prepared  him- 
self by  reflection  and  study  for  the  work  of  the  future, 
to  which  he  still  eagerly  looked  forward.  None  can  tell 
how  much  the  world  owes  to  the  enforced  solitudes  of 
its  great  leaders.  It  may  be  that  his  Caesarean  con- 
finement gave  opportunity  to  the  apostle  of  working 
Vi'out  the  ideas  concerning  the  person  of  Christ  and  the 
eternal  and  world-wide  purpose  of  God  which  his  later 
epistles   contain. 

242.  The  new  procurator,  Porcius  Festus,  was 
at  once  besought  by  the  Jews  to  order  Paul 
to  Jerusalem  for  trial  (Acts  xxv,  1-3).  Festus, 
however,  bade  them  send  their  representatives  to 
Caesarea  (4,  5),  and  when  tliey  came  they  were  unable 
to  substantiate  their  charges  (6-8).  Nevertheless 
Festus  asked  Paul  if  he  was  willing  to  go  to  Jerusalem, 
Thereupon  the  apostle,  realizing  the  hopelessness  of 
justice  in  Palestine,  made  a  formal  appeal  as  a  Roman 
citizen  to  Cgesar  (9-12),  He  was  accordingly  re- 
manded to  prison  till  there  should  be  an  opportunity 
of  sending  him  to  Italy. 

243,  Shortly  after  this,  Agrippa  II,  and  his  sister 
)     Bernice  came  to  congratulate  Festus  on  his  entrance 


VOYAGE   TO  JERUSALEM  235 

into  office  (xxv.  13).  Partly  out  of  compliment  to 
Agrippa,  as  the  titular  king  of  the  Jews,  and  partly  to 
learn  what  account  of  Paul  he  should  forward  to  Rome, 
Festus  proposed  that  together  they  should  hear  the 
prisoner's  defence  (14-22).  Hence  on  the  next  day 
the  apostle  delivered  before  this  distinguished  audience 
his  most  famous  apology  (xxv.  23  to  xxvi.  32).  He 
declared  his  loyalty  to  Israel's  historic  hope  ;  related 
the  story  of  his  conversion  and  mission  to  the  Gentiles ; 
and  finally  appealed  to  Agrippa  to  hear  Him  of  whom 
the  prophets  had  spoken.  When  the  assembly  broke 
up,  Agrippa  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  prisoner 
might  be  released,  if  he  had  not  appealed  to  Caesar. 
Such  an  appeal,  w^hen  once  made,  had  to  be  carried 
out.  But  evidently  Festus  had  no  charges  of  impor- 
tance to  send  to  the  emperor,  and  Paul's  ultimate  lib- 
eration, after  reaching  Italy,  became  practically  assured. 
244.  In  the  early  autumn  (a.  d.  60)  the  apostle  was 
sent  to  Rome  with  other  prisoners,  under  the  escort  of 
Julius,  a  centurion  of  the  Augustan  cohort  (comp. 
Schurer,  HJP.  I.  ii.  p.  53 ;  Bamsay^  St.  Paul  the  Trav. 
p.  314,  etc.).  Luke  and  Aristarchus  of  Thessalonica 
accompanied  him.  Professor  Ramsay  (St.  Paul  the 
Trav.  p.  316)  proposes  the  interesting  conjecture  that 
they  secured  passage  as  his  slaves.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
Luke  has  narrated  the  journey  (Acts  xxvii.  1  to  xxviii. 
16)  with  a  minuteness  and  picturesqueness  which  could 
only  have  come  from  an  eye-witness  (see  James  Smith, 
Voyage  and  Shipwreck  of  St.  Paul ;  Ramsay,  St.  Paul 
the  Trav.).  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  the  party  sailed 
from  Cgesarea  to  Myra  in  Lycia.  There  they  boarded 
an  Alexandrine  merchantman,  perhaps  a  corn  ship, 
bound  for  Italy.     The  voyage  ended,  after   a  fearful 


236     EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

storm,  in  utter  shipwreck  on  the  island  of  Melita 
(Malta),  which  lies  about  sixty  miles  south  of  Sicily. 
During  the  voyage  Paul  was  kindly  treated,  and  even 
exerted  marked  influence  on  both  the  centurion  and  the 
crew.  At  Melita,  too,  he  won  by  act  and  word  the  re- 
gard of  the  islanders.  In  the  spring  (a.  d.  61)  the 
party  was  placed  on  another  Alexandrian  ship,  which 
had  wintered  at  the  island,  and  finally  landed  at  Pii- 
teoli,  a  seaport  of  southwestern  Italy.  There  Paul 
found  Christian  brethren,  a  fact  which  reveals  the 
spread  of  the  faith  throughout  Italy  even  at  this  early 
period.  A  delay  of  seven  days  made  it  possible  for 
news  of  his  arrival  to  reach  Rome ;  so  that  at  "  the 
market  of  Appius"  (forty-three  miles  from  the  cap- 
ital), and  again  at  "the  Three  Taverns"  (ten  miles 
farther  on),  delegations  from  the  Roman  Christians 
met  him. 

245.  On  arriving  at  the  capital  the  prisoner  was 
granted  the  privilege  of  lodging  by  himself  with  the 
soldier  who  guarded  him  (Acts  xxviii.  16).  After- 
wards he  was  allowed  to  hire  a  dwelling,  in  which, 
though  still  in  chains  (Eph.  vi.  20;  Phil.  i.  13),  he 
lived  during  the  following  two  years  in  which  his  trial 
was  pending  (Acts  xxviii.  80,  31),  A  tradition,  pre- 
served in  the  authorized  version  of  the  English  Bible 
(Acts  xxviii.  16),  states  that  the  centurion  delivered 
the  prisoners  to  the  captain  of  the  guard.  This  has 
been  generally  supposed  to  refer  to  the  prefect  of  the 
pretorian  guard,  who  may  have  been  the  celebrated 
Burrus  {Lightfoot^  Philippians,  p.  7).  The  revised  ver- 
sion, however,  with  the  best  manuscripts,  omits  this 
statement.  Yet  the  tradition  may  be  itself  correct. 
Professor  Ramsay  (St.  Paul  the  Trav.  p.  348)  believes 


ARRIVAL  AT  ROME  237 

that  Paul  was  turned  over  to  the  chief  of  a  corps  called 
legiones  frumentarii,  whose  task  was  mainly  the  super- 
intendence of  the  grain  supply,  but  who  also  performed 
police  duty.  To  this  corps  Julius  is  supposed  to  have 
belonged.  But  it  is  not  at  all  clear  that  such  a  corps 
existed  so  early  (corap.  Hastings,  Diet,  of  Bible,  art. 
Prcetorium),  and  the  best  interpretation  of  Philippians 
i.  13  is  that  Paul  was  under  the  charge  of  the  pretori- 
ans.  Thus  the  apostle  found  himself  at  last  in  the 
great  city  on  which  his  thoughts  had  long  been  fixed, 
"  an  ambassador  in  bonds." 


VI 

PAUL   IN   ROME 

246.  The  mildness  of  his  imprisonment  enabled  Paul 
to  pursue  in  Rome  his  work  as  an  apostle ;  and  the  two 
years  of  his  life  in  the  capital  were,  in  fact,  a  period  of 
constant  and  far-reaching  activity. 

He  first  summoned  the  chiefs  of  the  Jewish  colony 
to  explain  to  them  how  he  came  to  be  there  on  an  ap- 
peal to  Ca3sar  against  his  own  nation  (^Acts  xxviii.  17- 
20).  They  replied  that  they  had  received  no  letters 
about  him,  though  they  added  that  the  sect  of  Chris- 
tians was  everywhere  spoken  against.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem  had  sent  no  advices 
to  those  in  Rome,  since  Paul's  appeal  had  only  been 
made  the  previous  summer,  and  also  because  the  favor- 
able attitude  to  him  of  the  Roman  officials  probably 
made  his  enemies  despair  of  securing  his  conviction. 
The  way  in  which  the  Jews  referred  to  the  Christians  is 
surprising.  They  certainly  knew  more  than  their  lan- 
guage implied.  Their  words,  indeed,  are  hardly  consist- 
ent with  the  view  that  a  Jewish  Christian  church  had 
been  long  formed  in  Rome,  and  that  conflict  between  it 
and  the  synagogue  had  led  Claudius  to  expel  the  Jews 
(sect.  198).  They  accord  better  with  the  view  that  the 
Roman  church  was  from  the  beginning  mainly  Gentile 
(sect.  231).  At  the  same  time  the  language  was  eva- 
sive.    They  were  unwilling  to  say  all  that  they  knew. 


PAUL'S   WORK   IN   ROME  239 

Nevertheless,  they  and  others  accepted  Paul's  invitation 
to  hear  his  message  (xxviii.  23).  He  wished,  as  on  other 
occasions,  to  offer  the  gospel  first  to  the  chosen  race. 
But  the  result  was  again  disappointing.  Most  of  them 
disbelieved ;  and  forthwith  the  apostle  bent  his  efforts 
upon  preaching  to  all,  Gentile  or  Jew,  who  could  be 
brought  to  his  dwelling  or  under  his  influence. 

247.  For  the  remaining  facts  of  the  Roman  ministry 
of  the  apostle,  we  are  dependent  on  the  few  items  fur- 
nished by  his  epistles.  Acts  relates  only  his  continued 
and  unhindered  activity  during  two  years  (xxviii.  30, 
31).  The  purpose  of  that  book  was  attained  jvhen  it 
had  described  the  rise  of  Gentile  Christianity  and 
brought  its  leader  to  the  capital  of  the  world.  We 
must  therefore  turn  to  the  epistles.  From  them  we 
learn  of  the  zeal  and  success  of  the  "  ambassador  in 
bonds "  (Col.  iv.  3,  4 ;  Eph.  vi.  19,  20 ;  Philem.  10). 
His  success  increased  with  time.  He  succeeded  in 
winning  to  the  faith  many  of  his  military  guards 
(Phil.  i.  12-14,  R.V.).  His  influence  also  permeated  the 
large  imperial  household  itself  (Phil.  iv.  22),  even  as  the 
retinue  of  other  noble  households  had  previously  been 
reached  (Rom.  xvi.  10,  11).  Onesimus,  the  runaway 
slave,  illustrates  another  class  of  people  of  which  doubt- 
less he  reached  not  a  few.  Yet  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  the  faith  penetrated  at  this  period  in  Rome 
not  only  among  the  lower  classes,  but  also  here  and 
there  into  the  upper  strata  of  society,  while  still  larger 
numbers  of  the  middle  class  were  affected  by  it  (comp. 
Jas.  Orr,  Neglected  Factors  in  the  Study  of  the  Early 
Progress  of  Christianity,  ch.  ii.) ;  and  Paul  certainly 
had  his  share  in  this  diffusion.  Ho  was  surrounded 
also  by  many  friends  and  co-workers.     Luke  and  Aris- 


240     EXPANSION   OF  CHRISTIANITY   UNDER  PAUL 

tarchus  had  accompanied  him,  and  the  latter  seems  to 
have  shared  his  imprisonment  (Col.  iv.  10).  Others, 
like  Timothy,  followed  him  ;  while  others  came  on 
errands  from  different  churches.  We  read  of  Epaphro- 
ditus  going  with  aid  and  comfort  from  Philippi  (Phil, 
iv.  18),  and  of  Epaphras  from  Colosse,  who  also  seems 
to  have  for  a  while  shared  the  apostle's  imprisonment 
that  he  might  report  and  consult  about  the  work  abroad 
(comp.  Col.  i.  7,  8 ;  iv.  7,  9-14 ;  Philem.  1,  10,  24 ; 
Eph.  vi.  21 ;  Phil.  i.  1 ;  ii.  19).  The  apostle  was  con- 
fident too  of  his  release  (Philem.  22 ;  Phil.  i.  25 ;  ii. 
24),  so  that  he  did  not  lessen  his  energy.  At  the  same 
time  there  were  opponents  even  in  the  Christian  com- 
munity. These  appear  especially  in  the  latter  part  of 
his  residence  (Phil.  i.  15-18).  They  were  doubtless 
Jewish-Christian  teachers,  who  had  moved  westward  as 
he  had  done.  So  decided  was  his  own  success,  that  he 
was  able  to  speak  of  them  with  unusual  equanimity  and 
even  to  rejoice  in  what  good  they  did.  His  house  in 
Rome  was  thus  the  centre  of  a  vigorous  and  far-reach- 
ing propagandism. 

248.  In  this  way  was  fulfilled  the  apostle's  long 
cherished  desire  of  preaching  at  Rome.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  remember  the  condition  of  the  great  city  at  the 
time,  its  luxury  and  idleness,  its  military  splendor,  its 
love  of  pleasure,  Nero's  increasing  tyranny  and  de- 
bauchery. Amid  the  vast  population  the  Christians 
were  a  feeble  company.  Yet  they  were  becoming 
known  and  hated  even  by  the  Roman  populace  {Taci- 
tus, Ann.  XV.  44).  Strange  tales  were  being  circulated 
about  them ;  and  that  popular  hostility  to  them  as 
"  enemies  of  the  human  race  "  was  already  rising,  which 
the  Emperor  used  afterwards  as  an  excuse  for  his  per- 


EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSIANS  241 

secution.  As  yet,  however,  no  notes  of  danger  were 
heard.  While  the  world  ga2ed  in  wonder  at  the 
splendid  horrors  of  Nero's  rule,  the  obscure  prisoner, 
waiting  at  his  bar,  with  equally  obscure  co-laborers, 
was  spreading  quietly  through  the  capital  and  even 
into  the  imperial  guards  and  household  the  peaceful 
and  pure  religion  of  a  divine  Redeemer. 

249.  The  e]3istles  written  by  Paul  from  Rome  are  I 
documents  of  high  value  for  the  history  of  Christianity  ■ 
not  merely  in  the  capital  but  throughout  the  empire, 
and  the  study  of  them  again  best  reveals  the  history. 
They  fall  into  two  groups.     One,  comprising  those  to 
the  Colossians,  to  Philemon,  and  to  the  Ephesians,  was 
sent  by  Tychicus,  who  was  accompanied  by  Onesimus 
(Col.  iv.  tV  Pliilem.  10,  12;   Eph.  vi.  21,  22).     The 
other,  comprising  the  epistle  to  the  Philippians,  was 
sent  by  Epaphroditus  (Phil.  ii.  25),  who  had  come  to 
the  apostle  with  a  gift  from  the  Philippian  church. 
The  first  group  is  to  be  dated  probably  in  a.  d.  61  or   ? 
62,  and  Philippians  in  a.  d.  62  or  63. 

250.  The  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  introduces  us 
suddenly  to  a  new  phase  of  apostolic  history.  No  men- 
tion has  been  hitherto  made  of  this  Phrygian  city  on 
the  Lycus.  The  epistle  implies  (ii.  1)  that  Paul  him- 
self had  not  been  there,  but  that  the  otherwise  unknown 
Epaphras  had  been  the  minister  and  apparently  the 
founder  of  the  church  (i.  6,7;  iv.  12,13;  Philem.  23). 
Probably  the  gospel  had  been  carried  to  Colosse  during 
Paul's  residence  in  Ephesus  (Acts  xix.  10,  26).  Phi- 
lemon also,  a  Colossian,  had  been  one  of  Paul's  con- 
verts (Philem.  19),  and  he  too  may  have  heard  the 
apostle  in  Ephesus  and  carried  the  faith  to  his  home. 
It  was,  at  any  rate,  a  Pauline  church.     Epaphras  had 

16 


242    EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY  UNDER  PAUL 

recently  come  to   Rome  and  reported  its   condition ; 
and  there  were  some  features  of  the  situation  which 
so    seriously  threatened  its  welfare   that   the   apostle 
despatched  this  epistle. 
y       251.   The  danger  at  Colosse  arose  from  the  appear- 
ance of  a  new  and  insidious  form  of  false  teaching.    It 
was  an  eclectic  movement,  combining  Jewish  rites  with 
I  a  mystic  theosophy,  and  threatened  to  undermine  the 
I  believer's  confidence  in   the   all-sufficiency  of   Christ. 
It  was   not   the    old    Judaistic   error    against   which 
Galatians  had  been  written ;  for  the  apostle  does  not 
meet  it  by  the  same  arguments.     In  fact  the  unity  of 
Jew  and  Gentile  in  Christ  is  spoken  of  as  acknowledged 
(i.  6,  12,  21-29  ;  ii.  7,  11,  19).     Yet  the  influence  of 
Judaism   is   plain  from  the  warnings  against   Jewish 
observances  (ii.  11, 14, 16,  20-22).    On  the  other  hand, 
the  error  included  a  mystical,  speculative  element.     It 
claimed  to  be  philosophical  (ii.  8),  and  in  particular  in- 
j  eluded  a  worshipping  of  supernatural    beings  besides 
i  Christ,  while  into  the  mysteries  of  the  celestial  hier- 
'  archy  the  initiated  alone  could  peer  (ii.  18).     There 
was   also   an    ascetic   tendency  (ii.    18,   23),   perhaps 
because  considered  conducive  to  spiritual  illumination 
and  because  the  errorists  were  touched  by  the  widely 
prevalent   notion   that  matter  is   inherently  evil.     In 
this  teaching  lay  evidently  the  germs  of  an  entire  sub- 
version of  the  original  gospel.    It  is  difficult  to  account 
in  detail  for  the  origin  of  each  element  of  the  error  and 
for  the  special  form  of   their   combination.     But  the 
movement  as  a  whole  was  clearly  a  phase  of  the  reli- 
1   gious  syncretism  then  prevalent  in  the  East  and  into 
I   which   Jews   of   the   dispersion,  like   the   Essenes   in 
Palestine,  sometimes  fell.     At  Colosse  the  same  type 


THE  DIVINITY  OF  CHRIST  243 

of  eclecticism  had  entered  the  church.     It  found  in  the 
quickened  Christian  consciousness  of  supernatural  reve- 
lation and  of  spiritual  manifestations  a  new  opportunity 
of  development,  and  not  all  of  the  Christians  were  able 
to   discriminate   the   true   revelation   from   the   false. 
We  can  hardly  be  wrong  in  recognizing  in  it  the  crude 
beginnings   of   what    afterwards   became   gnosticism ;  1 
and,  as  in  the  case  of  gnosticism,  it  indicates  the  peril  | 
to  which  early  Christianity  was  exposed  of  losing  its  I 
purity  and  independence  by  being  grafted  on  to  exist-  / 
ing  systems  of  philosophy  and  religion.     In  meeting  it  1 
Paul  defended  from  a  new  point  of  view  the  integrity  ■ 
and   sufficiency    of    the   gospel.      His   epistle   to   the 
Colossians  conclusively  proves  that  in  him  Christianity 
did  not  draw  its  ideas  from  the  intellectual  or  religious  . 
atmosphere  of  the  age,  but,  even  when  its  environment  \ 
enlarged,  consciously  opposed  it  in  the  interest  of  an 
independent  system  of  belief. 

252.    This  new  opponent  was  therefore  the  means  of 
eliciting   a  fresh  phase    of   apostolic  teaching.     Here 
Paul  presents  the  all-sufficiency  of  Christ  because  of  "j 
the  divine  dignity  of  his  person  and  the  completeness  1 
of  his  redeeming  work.     He  did  this  by  presenting  the 
truth  corresponding  to  the  error,  even  to  the  extent  of 
appropriating  the  terminology  of   his    opponents   and 
giving  it  his  own  meaning.     Stress  is  laid  on  the  true 
knowledge  (i.  6,  9,  10 ;  ii.  2,  3,  8)  obtained  by  faith  ( 
(i.  4,  23 ;  ii.  5,  7)  in  opposition  to  vain  speculation  (ii.  \ 
8) ;  on  redemption  through  the  death  of  Christ  alone 
(i.  13,  14,  20,  22;   ii.  10,   12-14);   on   the   supreme  f 
dignity  of  Christ  in  relation  to  God,  the  universe  and 
the  church  (i.  15-19,20,26;  ii.   3,  9-11,  19)  in  oppo- 
sition to  homage  rendered  to  other  superhuman  beings 


244     EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER  PAUL 

(i.  13,  16,  18 ;  ii.  10,  15) ;  and  on  Christ  as  the  in- 
carnate "fulness"  (2)leroma}oi.J^J^}iy  (i-  19;  "•  9) 
in  opposition  to  all  other  possible  agents  of  divine 
revelation. 

/  253.  This  epistle  is  thus  eminently  christological. 
(its  teaching  was  not  new.  Every  element  of  it,  some- 
I  times  in  the  same  phraseology  (comp.  II.  Cor.  iv.  4), 
i  may  be  found  in  earlier  epistles ;  but  these  elements 
I  are  here  brought  together  to  form  an  orderly  exposi- 
tion of  the  apostolic  doctrine  concerning  the  person  of 
•  Christ.  This  gives  it  peculiar  importance.  It  now 
appears  explicitly  that  apostolic  teaching  had  risen  to 
the  full  apprehension  of  the  divinity  of  Jesus.  He  was 
not  merely  a  prophet  or  even  the  exalted  Messiah 
raised  to  the  right  hand  of  God ;  but  he  was  a  divine 
person,  the  Creator  of  the  universe,  the  One  through 
whom  deity  had  ever  been  manifested  ;  and  his  historic 
life,  death,  and  resurrection  were  a  divine  incarnation 
and  triumph  over  all  evil.  It  is  not  impossible  that 
the  apostle's  language  was  partly  drawn  from  current 
religious  and  philosophical  phraseology.  Indeed  his 
repeated  use  of  the  word  "  fulness "  (i.  19 ;  ii.  9) 
seems  to  point  to  the  use  of  the  term  by  the  errorists. 
But  the  doctrine  was  purely  Christian.  It  was  the 
result,  under  the  Spirit's  leading,  of  reflection  upon  the 
nature  of  Jesus  as  disclosed  by  his  exaltation,  of 
reflection  also  upon  his  own  self-testimony  as  well  as 
upon  Old  Testament  prophecy  and  upon  the  nature  of 
his  redeeming  work.  The  historic  life  of  Jesus  had 
not  grown  dim,  as  the  composition  of  the  gospels 
proves.  But  an  eternal  background  had  become  visible 
behind  the  historic  life.  Jesus  had  become  plainly  the 
centre  of  a  theodicy  which  embraced  heaven  and  earth 


EPISTLE   TO   PHILEMON  245 

in  its  purpose.  The  perfection  of  his  work  as  a 
Saviour  of  men  was  seen  to  rest  on  the  fulness  of  his 
divine  dignity.  His  life  and  work  on  earth  appeared 
as  the  climax  not  only  of  Hebrew  history  but  of  the 
whole  cosmic  process  of  the  self-revelation  of  God.  In 
the  light  of  this  vast  vision  of  revealed  deity  and  of  its 
relation  to  the  entire  universe,  faith  in  Christ  appeared 
more  than  ever  the  condition  of  salvation,  and  Chris- 
tianity itself  the  only  true  religion. 

254.  Onesimus,  who  accompanied  Tychicus  to  Co- 
losse,  carried  also  the  epistle  to  Philemon.  This 
beautiful  little  letter  illustrates  the  personal  relations 
of  the  apostle  with  his  friends  and  the  fine  ethical 
spirit  which  animated  him.  Onesimus  had  once  been 
a  slave  of  Philemon,  who  was  now  a  leading  member 
of  the  Colossian  church ;  and,  after  robbing  his  master, 
had  run  away.  He  had  drifted  to  Rome  and  had  there 
been  converted  by  the  apostle.  The  latter  acquired 
the  warmest  affection  for  the  converted  slave.  He 
would  like  to  have  kept  him  by  his  side  ;  but  he  felt 
it  to  be  only  right  for  Onesimus  to  return  to  Philemon 
and  make  amends  for  his  fault.  The  letter  was  writ- 
ten to  ask  Philemon  to  receive  and  forgive  the  run- 
away. It  is  couched  in  the  most  delicate  language. 
It  is  an  appeal  to  Philemon's  Christian  priuciples 
rather  than  a  command  such  as  the  apostle  might  have 
issued.  Paul  even  offered  to  repay  any  money  that 
Onesimus  might  owe.  The  whole  letter  is  suffused 
with  the  most  delicate  suggestions  of  love  and  duty 
on  the  part  of  all  concerned.  It  is  therefore  of  far 
more  importance  than  the  incident  which  occasioned 
it.  It  reveals  the  social  ethics  of  apostolic  Christianity. 
The   new   religion,  though  teaching  the   equality   in 


246     EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER  PAUL 

Christ  of  servants  and  masters,  did  not  free  the  former 
from  their  obligations  to  the  latter.  Neither  did  it 
undertake  the  reconstruction  of  the  social  order.  It 
left  that  to  the  gradual  operation  of  the  principles 
involved  in  the  relation  of  all  believers  in  Christ  to 
God.  It  rather  directed  every  one  to  discharge  exist- 
ing relations  in  the  spirit  of  Christ  (comp.  I.  Cor.  vii. 
17-24).  The  slave  should  serve  his  master  with  fidel- 
ity. The  master  should  treat  his  slave  as  a  Christian 
brother  (comp.  Col.  ii.  22  to  iv.  1 ;  Eph.  vi.  5-9 ;  I. 
Pet.  ii.  13-25).  The  new  community  was  thus  a 
spiritual  fraternity.  It  controlled,  without  destroying, 
tlie  existing  relations  of  life.  It  infused  into  society 
the  sense  of  spiritual  oneness,  the  passion  of  mutual 
love,  and  a  keen  regard  for  the  rights  of  others.  This 
was  the  seed  out  of  which  alone  in  time  social  recon- 
struction and  civil  progress  could  emerge  in  stable 
and  harmonious  forms. 

255.  Tychicus  carried  a  third  letter  which  is  of 
pre-eminent  importance  to  the  student  both  of  Pauline 
teaching  and  of  apostolic  Christianity.  This  was  the 
so-called  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  It  was  really  ad- 
dressed, however,  noFloTIie  Ephesians  alone.  Had  it 
been,  it  would  almost  certainly  have  contained  salu- 
tations to  Paul's  many  friends  in  the  Asian  metropo- 
lis. Indeed  certain  expressions  (i.  15  ;  iii.  2, 4)  seem 
to  imply  that  some  of  its  readers  were  not  personally 
acquainted  with  him  at  all.  Though  clearly  addressed 
to  a  specific  circle  of  readers,  the  epistle  has  also  the 
character  of  a  general  discussion.  Moreover,  in  the 
two  best  manuscripts  of  the  New  Testament  the  words 
"  in  Ephesus  "  (i.  1)  are  not  found.  Origcn  did  not 
have  them  in  his  text,  and  Basil,  in  the  foin-th"  century, 


^; 


EPISTLE   TO   THE   EPUESIANS  247 

states  that  in  his  day  also  they  were  not  in  the  ancient 
copies.  It  is  known  too  that  Marcion,  in  the  second 
century,  called  this  the  Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  was  generally  known  in  the  church, 
as  far  back  as  the  second  century,  as  "  to  the  Ephe- 
sians."  These  facts  are  best  explained  by  tlie  sup- 
position that  it  was  a  circular  letter  addressed  to  the 
churches  of  Asia.  It  is  no  doubt  the  one  referred  to 
in  Colossiaus  iv.  16  as  "  the  epistle  from  Laodicea," 
one  copy  having  been  left  there;  and  from  Laodicea 
Marcion  may  have  derived  his.  Yet,  as  Ephesus  was 
the  metropolis  of  Asia  and  a  church  of  large  import- 
ance in  early  Christian  history,  and  as  it  was  included 
in  the  churches  addressed,  the  letter  became  commonly 
known  as  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  It  was  the 
mission  of  Tychicus  to  distribute  copies  of  this  circu- 
lar to  the  churches  of  the  province. 

256.  This  epistle  is  closely  related  in  language  and 
thought  to  Colossians. .  Frequent  echoes  occur  of 
phrases  used  in  the  companion  document  (comp.  e.g. 
Eph.  i.  1  and  Col.  i.  1 ;  Eph.  i.  3,  20  ;  ii.  6 ;  iii.  10 ;  vi. 
12  and  Col.  i.  5  ;  Eph.  i.  6  and  Col.  i.  14 ;  Eph.  i.  7  and 
Col.  i.  14 ;  Eph.  i.  10  and  Col.  i.  20  ;  Eph.  i.  11  and  Col. 
i.  12  ;  Eph.  i.  19,  20  and  Col.  ii.  12,  21 ;  Eph.  i.  21  and 
Col.  i.  16 ;  E])h.  i.  22  and  Col.  i.  18  ;  Eph.  i.  23  and 
Col.  ii.  9,  etc.).  Evidently  the  two  were  written  under  i 
the  influence  of  the  same  impressions.  Yet  Ephesians 
is  by  no  means  a  mere  repetition  of  Colossians.  Even 
when  the  phraseology  is  nearly  the  same,  it  is  modi- 
fied;  and  the  themes  of  the  two  are  not  identical.  In 
Ephesians  the  thought  is  widened  so  as  to  include  the 
whole  doctrine  of  the  origin,  salvation,  and  destiny  of 
the  Christian  community.     In  Colossians  emphasis  is 


248    EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER  PAUL 

ll     on  the  person  of  Christ  and  the  sufficiencj  of  his  work ; 

\\  in  Ephesiaus  itis  on  the  church,  the  body  of  JJhrist. 
In  Colossians  Christ  is  the  "  fulness "  of  God ;  in 
Ephesians   the   church   is   the    "  fulness "    of    Christ. 

•^  In  Ephesians  the  apostle's  thought  goes  beyond  the 
divine  dignity  and  all-sufficiency  of  Christ  to  the 
eternal  purpose  of  God  in  Christ,  of  which  the  church, 
the  whole  body  of  the  redeemed,  is  the  result.  Hence 
this  epistle  is  the  climax  of  Paul's  teaching  about  sal- 
vation. True,  it  does  not  treat  of  eschatology ;  but  in 
other  respects  it  sums  up  his  teaching.  It  lays  down  the 
fundamental  principle  of  his  system  of  thought,  namely, 
God's  sovereign  purpose  of  grace,  to  illustrate  which  in 
the  redemption  of  his  elect  he  has  ordered  the  course 
of  history  and  revealed  his  will  and  power  in  his  Son. 

257.    In  this  epistle,  then,  Paul's  teaching  about  the 
/essence  of  Christianity  is  presented  in  the  most  com- 
j  plete  form.     The  way  of  salvation  taught  in  Galatians 
/  and  Romans  is  assumed,  but  the  whole  plan  of  God 
I  embodied  in  the  mission  of  Jesus  is  unfolded.     The 
experience  of  salvation  in  Christ  is  traced  back  to  its 
origin,  and  carried  forward  to  its  goal.     It  is  the  mani- 
festation in  time  of  the  eternal  purpose  of  God  with 
man.     Stress  also  is  laid  on  the  creation,  by  means  of 
the  election  and  redemption  of  individuals,  of  a  new 
and   spiritually  organized    community.     The  result  is 
the  presentation  of  a  complete  theodicy.     Christianity 
appears  as  the  goal,  not  only  ofliuman"  history,  but  of 
(the  eternal  divine  thought.     We  are  given  a  world- 
'  view  of  its  significance.     It  is  not  merely  a  system  of 
belief,  but  the  divine  creation  of  a  renewed  humanity, 
to  which  the  title  "  the  church  "  emphatically  belongs, 
and  which,  as  it  originated  in  the  purpose  of  God  and 


THE   UNIVERSAL   CHURCH  249 

has  been  effectuated  by  the  work  of  Christ,  is  organized 
by  the  divine,  indwelling  Spirit. 

258.  It  is  clear  that,  while  the  apostle  was  moved  to 
write  by  the  needs  of  his  Asian  churches,  yet  the 
epistle  embodied  his  mature  thought  and  makes  a  dis- 
tinct progress  in  the  delivery  of  his  doctrine.  It  is  the 
culmination  of  his  teaching  at  the  culmination  of  his 
life  work.  We  may  conjecture  that  three  factors  in 
particular  entered  into  the  historical  formation  of  his 
thought.  One  was  the  success  of  his  missionary  work 
throughout  the  empire,  by  which  a  new  spiritual  com- 
munity of  all  races  had  been  actually  formed.  Secondly, 
his  Judaistic  controversy  had  made  perfectly  clear  that 
such  a  community  was  the  goal  of  history  and  of  God's 
purpose.  ThirdLyv  his  own  reflection,  ever  reaching 
after  ultimate  truth,  could  not  rest  until  these  historic 
facts  were  contemplated  as  parts  of  the  ordered  unfold- 
ing of  the  divine  scheme  concerning  the  universe  as  a 
whole.  The  result  was  this  sublime  production.  Here 
the  church  appears  as  the  universal  company  of  the 
redeemed  and  spiritually  united  people  of  God.  It  is 
not  identified  with  an  external  organization.  It  is  a 
spiritual  community,  and  knit  together  by  spiritual 
bonds.  In  this  great  temple  "  each  several  building  " 
(ii.  21,  R.V.)  has  its  place,  and  the  unity  of  the  whole  is 
"the  unity  of  the  Spirit"  (iv.  3).  Yet  the  spiritual 
reality  is  conceived  of  as  manifested  in  all  the  activities 
of  the  church  and  in  all  the  relations  of  life.  This  was 
the  new  Israel,  the  new  temple,  the  new  humanity, 
which  Paul  describes  as  the  goal  of  God's  purpose  with 
mankind,  and  as  realized  alone  through  Christ  in  the 
Christian  community. 

259.  The  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  written  later 


250     EXPANSION   OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER  PAUL 

than  the  three  which  Tychicus  and  Onesimus  bore  to 
,  Asia,  is  a  warm  greeting  from  the  imprisoned  apostle, 
j  partly  to  thank  his  beloved  Pliilippians  for  a  gift  which 
i  they  had  sent  him  by  Epaphroditus  (ii.  25  ;  iv.  14-18), 
but  abounding  in   personal  news,  in  the  frank   confi- 
dences of  a  friend,  and  in  such  instructions  as  sug- 
,  gested  themselves  to  his  mind.     It  was  not  elicited  by 
any  special  crisis  at  Philippi,  nor  by  the  wish  to  set 
;  forth  any  special  truth.     It  is  a  typical  specimen  of  a 
I  pastoral  letter  to  a   devoted   congregation.     It   is   of 
^  chief  interest  for  the  information  it  contains,  and  for 
its  tender  expressions  of  lofty  Christian  experience. 

260.  It  throws,  in  the  first  place,  some  light  on  the 
condition  of  the  Philippian  church.  Thus  we  find  it 
organized  under  "  overseers  (bishops)  and  deacons " 
(i.  1).  They  were  specially  mentioned  in  the  saluta- 
tion, probably  because  they  were  the  official  agents 
through  whom  the  gift  had  been  sent  to  the  apostle ; 
but  the  language  advises  us  that  these  were  the  two 
classes  of  regular  officers  in  the  churches.  The  title 
"  overseer  "  was  replacing  "  elder,"  although  the  latter 
was  still  used  and  the  two  denoted  the  same  office 
(Tit.  i.  5,  7;  I.  Tim.  iii.  12;  iv.  17  ;  Acts  xx.  17,  28). 
j  The  term  "  overseer  "  seems  to  have  arisen  among  the 
1  Gentile  churches,  and  it  may  be  that  its  adoption  was 
occasioned  by  its  employment  to  denote  the  presiding 
offices  of  civic  or  social  societies  (JlatcJi^  Organization 
of  the  Christ.  Chh.  sects,  ii.,  iii. ;  LigJitfoot.,  The  Chris- 
tian Ministry).  It  would  thus  be  the  Hellenic  equiva- 
lent for  the  Hebraic  "  elder,"  On  the  other  hand,  the 
use  of  the  term  in  the  Greek  Old  Testament  (comp. 
II.  Kings  xi.  18  ;  II.  Chron.  xxxiv.  12, 17  ;  Neb.  xi.  9, 14, 
22 ;   Is.  Ix.  17)  may  have  prepared  the  Christians  to 


EPISTLE   TO   THE   PIIILlPriANS  251 

employ  it  much  in  the  same  wuy  in  which  ecdesia  was 
substituted  for  si/nago(jue  (sect,   100).     Whatever  its  , 
origin,  the  office  of  "  overseer  "  was  the  same  as  that  j 
of  "  elder,"  but  the  term  described  the  office  from  the  ' 
practical  point  of  view  of  its  duties.     Apart,  however, 
from  these  officers,  there  were  many  in  the  church,  both 
men  and  women  (iv.  2,  3),  who  were  active  in  the  cause. 

261.   As  to  the  apostle  himself,  this  epistle  illustrates,  \ 
as   already  observed  (sect.  247),   his  successful   zeal,  I 
his  trials  and  his  courage,  and  his  strong  expectation 
of  release.     In  point  of  doctrine  it  does  not  add  essen-  J 
tially  to  what  we  have  already  learned  of  Paul's  teach-' 
ing.     The  great  passage  on  the  self-humiliation  of  the 
divine  Son  (ii.  5-11)  makes  perfectly  clear  his  belief  in  / 
Hie  eternal  and  essential  divinity  of  Christ,  and  beau-/ 
tifully   describes  the  ethical    spirit  illustrated    by  the' 
incarnation  ;  but  it  does  not   advance  save  in  detail 
beyond  earlier  utterances  (Gal,  iv.  4 ;  II.  Cor,  viii.  9 ; 
Kom.  i.  3,  4  ;  viii,  3  ;  ix..  5  ;  Col.  i.  15-17  ;  ii,  9).     The 
same  may  be  said  of  chapter  iii.     It  should  be  noted,] 
however,  that  here  reappears  the  expectation  of  a  physi- 1 
cal  transformation    of    believers   at    Christ's    advent 
(iii.  21),  which  shows  that  the  absence  from  Colossians  ^   ^n:?: 
and  Ephesians  of  his  earlier  eschatology  was  not  due  to    I 
any  change  of  views.     With  the  few  items  of  informa- 
tion furnished  by  this  epistle,  our  knowledge  of  Paul's 
first  Roman  imprisonment  ends.     The  little  that  we  do 
learn  suggests,  of  course,  that  much  more  must  have 
been  done  by  way  of  influence  on  the  capital  and  abroad. 
We  leave  him  still  awaiting  his  trial,  but  none  the  less 
leavening  the  world  by  his  teaching.     It  is   easy  to 
understand  why  the  Roman  church  of  the  next  age 
looked  back  to  Paul  as  one  of  its  founders. 


vn 

THE  LAST   YEARS   OF   PAUL 

262.  Had  Paul's  life  ended  with  the  Roman  im- 
prisonment recorded  in  Acts,  he  would  still  have  per- 
formed the  work  which  has  made  his  name  historic. 
Not  only  had  he  personally  established  Christianity 
in  most  of  the  chief  centres  of  the  empire,  but  from 
them  the  faith  had  rapidly  spread  into  the  contiguous 
regions.  There  is  evidence,  shortly  after,  that  it  had 
permeated  the  whole  of  Asia  Minor  (I.  Pet.  i.  1),  had 
entered  Illyricum,  or,  as  it  was  later  called,  Dalmatia 
(II.  Tim.  iv.  11),  and  had  possibly  found  its  way  into 
Gaul  (II.  Tim.  iv.  11,  R.Y.,  marg.).  Converts  had  been 
made  in  various  ranks  of  society.  The  majority  were 
probably  of  the  middle  class;  and  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  even  the  slaves,  to  whom  frequent 
reference  is  made  (Eph.  vi.  5 ;  Col.  iii.  22 ;  I.  Pet.  ii. 
18),  often  included  intelligent  and  educated  men. 
Even  in  Corinth,  where  most  of  the  early  disciples 
were  from  the  lower  orders  (I.  Cor.  i.  26 ;  vii.  11),  we 
read  of  Crispus,  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue  (Acts 
xviii.  8),  and  Erastus,  the  treasurer  of  the  city  (Rom. 
xvi.  23,  R.V.) ;  while  in  Ephesus  some  of  the  wealthy 
"  Asiarchs"  (see  sect.  197)  were  the  apostle's  friends. 
Gentile  and  Jew,  masters  and  slaves,  educated  and 
ignorant,  rich  and  poor,  had  been  united  in  a  few 
years  into  a  new  confraternity.     Moreover,  the  apostle 


PAUL'S   RELEASE   FROM  LMPRISONMENT  253 

had  by  his  epistles  put  in  permanent  form  his  whole 
system  of  instruction.  He  had  fully  interpreted  to 
the  Gentiles  Jesus,  the  Messiah.  Through  his  min- 
istry, whatever  others  may  have  done,  Christianity 
had  unfolded  its  message  to  the  world  and  attained 
complete  consciousness  of  its  independent  mission. 

263.  There  is  reason,  however,  to  believe  that  Paul's 
life  did  not  end  with  his  appeal  to  Caesar,  awaiting 
the  issue  of  which  Luke's  narrative  closes.  That  the 
apostle  was  martyred  at  Rome  under  Nero  is  the 
constant  testimony  of  tradition  from  the  earliest  times, 
and  may  be  accepted  without  doubt.  The  year  of  his 
death  is  more  open  to  question.  Tradition,  first  men- 
tioned by  Eusebius  (Chronicon),  placed  it  in  a.d.  67 
OX- 68.  (See  Appendix.)  Even  if  this  be  too  late,  a 
period  of  time  certainly  elapsed  between  the  close  of 
the  two  years  mentioned  in  Acts  (xxviii.  31)  and  his 
martyrdom ;  for  it  is  utterly  incredible  that  he  died 
before  the  outbreak  of  Nero's  persecution  in  the 
summer  of  a.  p.  64.  Did  he  then  continue  a  prisoner, 
or  was  he  released  on  his  appeal  to  C«sar  and  allowed 
to  resume  his  work  ?  The  reasons  for  the  latter  sup- 
position, quite  apart  from  the  question  of  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  are  very  strong. 

264.  In  the  first  place,  he  confidently  expected  to 
be  released  (Phil.  i.  25  ;  ii.  24),  and  his  expectation 
must  have  been  based  on  his  knowledge  of  the  situa- 
tion. In  the  second  place,  his  previous  treatment 
by  Roman  officials  makes  his  release  probable.  He 
was  regarded  as  a  Jew  who  had  a  controversy  with 
his  fellow-religionists  ;  and  as  Judaism  was  a  legalized 
religion,  its  internal  dissensions  were  no  aifair  of  the 
state.     Not  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Neronian  perse- 


254     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIANITY  UNDER  PAUL 

cution  were  Christians  punished  by  the  Romans  for 
being  such ;  and  although  the  Jews  accused  Paul 
of  offences  of  which  the  officials  could  take  cognizance 
(Acts  xviii.  13;  xxiv.  5),  yet  in  every  case  when  he 
made  his  defence  and  the  real  nature  of  the  dispute 
appeared,  he  was  either  discharged  or  acknowledged 
to  be  guiltless.  It  is  altogether  probable,  therefore, 
that  when  his  case  came  before  Caesar,  he  was  ac- 
quitted. In  the  third  place,  tradition  asserts  his 
release.  Clement  of  Rome  (a.  r>.^^„)  wrote  of  him  that 
"  he  taught  the  whole  world  righteousness  and  reached 
the  furthest  bound  of  the  west ; "  which  in  one  writing 
from  Rome  can  hardly  mean  less  than  that  the  apostle 
had  visited  Spain,  and  this  implies  his  release.  In 
like  manner  the  Muratori  Fragment  (a.d.  170-200) 
mentions  the  journey  to  Spain  as  if  it  were  generally 
believed,  and  the  same  tradition  appears  in  early 
apocryphal  "  Acts  "  (comp.  Zahn^  Einleit.  I.  sect.  36, 
note  7  ;  Steinmetz,  Die  2te  Gefangenschaft  d.  Paul, 
p.  90).  Finally  Eusebius  (HE.  11.  22)  gives  it  as  the 
[  current  report  that  the  apostle  was  released,  resumed 
his  ministry,  and  was  again  arrested  and  suffered 
martyrdom  at  Rome.  It  is  true  that  the  witnesses  to 
the  tradition  are  not  many,  but  there  is  no  opposing 
tradition.  It  is  true  also  that  no  trustworthy  histor- 
ical remains  exist  of  Paul's  work  in  Spain.  There  is, 
however,  some  evidence  that  Christianity  existed  in 
Spain  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Nero  (Steinmetz,  ibid.  p. 
86).  The  absence  of  historical  remains  of  Paul's  visit  is 
no  disproof  of  the  visit  itself,  nor  is  the  tradition  suffi- 
ciently explained  as  arising  out  of  the  apostle's  known 
wish  to  visit  Spain  (Rom.  xv.  24).  Taking  the  evidence 
as  a  whole,  when  combined  with  the  probabilities  of  the 


THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES  255 

situation  as  exhibited  above,  there  is  reason  to  believe  ( 
that  the  appeal  to  Caesar  resulted  in  Paul's  liberation  I 
and  the  resumption  of  his  missionary  activity. 

265.   This    conclusion    is    further    assured   by   the   , 
epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus  (sects.  175-180).     They  I 
are  certainly  to  be  assigned  to  this  period  of  the  apos-  I 
tie's  life.     It  is  quite  impossible  to  place  First  Timothy  } 
and  Titus   in   the    narrative   of    Acts.     It    has   been 
sought  to  do  this  by  assuming  extended,  unrecorded 
journeys  during   the   Ephesian  ministry   of   Paul,  on    ; 
one  of   which,  having  left  Timothy  in  charge  of  the  / 
church  at  Ephesus  (I.  Tim.  i.  3),  he  went  to  Crete  and  ' 
placed  Titus  in  charge  (Tit.  i.  5) ;  but  this  is  hardly 
compatible  with  his  description  of  his  stay  in  Ephesus 
as  having  lasted  three  years  (Acts  xx.  31).     Again,  it 
has  been  suggested  that  Timothy  was  left  at  Ephesus 
after  the   apostle  had  taken   leave   of   the   elders   at 
Miletus  on  his  last  journey  to  Jerusalem  (Acts  xx.  38), 
and  that  Titus  was  left  -at  Crete  when  the  ship,  bearing 
Paul  to  Rome,  touched  at  "  Fair  Havens,"  near  to  the 
city   Lasca  (Acts  xxvii.   8).     First  Timothy   is   then 
supposed  to  have  been  written  shortly  after  Paul  left 
Miletus,  and  Titus  shortly  after  his  arrival  at  Rome 
(see  Bartlet,  The  Apost.  Age,  pp.  178-184).     But  in 
this  case  it  is  strange   that  he  should  have  written  to 
Timothy  that  he  hoped  to  rejoin  him  shortly  (I.  Tim. 
iii.  14)  or  that  he  should  have  written  to  Titus  to  meet 
him  in  Nicopolis  because  he  had  determined  there  to 
winter  (Tit.  iii.   12).     Moreover,  on   any  view   which  ; 
accepts  the  integrity  of  these  epistles,  the  prevalence  \ 
and  character  of  the  errors  against  which  the  letters 
warn  make  it  impossible  to  assign  them  to  the  period 
covered  by  Acts,  especially  since  in  his  address  to  the 


256      EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER  PAUL 

Ephesian  elders  Paul  represents  the  false  teachers  as 

certain  to  arise  but  as  still  in  the  future  (Acts  xx.  29, 

30).     Second   Timothy  also  cannot  be   assigned   sat- 

;  isfactorily  to  the  imprisonment  of  Acts.    The  statement 

';  that  he  had  left  Trophimus  at  Miletus  sick  (iv.  20), 

1  was  not  true  of  his  visit  to  that  place  on  the  way  to 

'  Jerusalem  (Acts  xx.  15),  for  Trophimus  was  with  him 

in  Jerusalem  (Acts  xxi.  29).     These  views  would  also 

separate  the  epistle  from  the  other  Pastorals  by  several 

years,  whereas  the  striking  community  of  thought  and 

language  certainly  locates  them  in  one  period  of  the 

apostle's  life.     The  effort,  therefore,  to  insert  them  in 

the  Acts,  and  at  the  same  time  to  accept  their  integrity 

and  Pauline  authorship,  must  be  abandoned. 

266.  These  epistles  then  must  be  placed  in  the  pe- 
/  riod  subsequent  to  Paul's  release  and  throw  light  on 
the  last  years  of  his  ministry.  It  is  not  possible  in- 
deed to  determine  from  them  his  movements  in  detail. 
It  is  natural,  however,  to  suppose,  from  Philippians 
ii.  19,  that  he  went  immediately  after  his  release  to 
Philippi.  From  there  he  may  have  gone  to  Colosse 
(Philem.  22),  and  thence  to  Crete  (Tit.  i.  5),  on  his 
way  to  Spain.  Or  he  may  have  abandoned  his  earlier 
purpose  to  visit  Asia  and  have  gone  at  once  to  Spain. 
On  his  return  he  may  have  visited  Crete  on  the  way  to 
Asia,  and  from  the  latter  have  gone  into  Macedonia 
(I.  Tim.  i.  3).  It  is  also  impossible  to  determine 
whether  T.  Timothy  or  Titus  was  written  first.  They 
cannot,  however,  have  been  written  later  than  a.  d. 
66.  The  Nicopolis  (Tit.  iii.  12),  where  he  proposed  to 
winter,  is  usually  identified  with  the  city  of  that  name 
in  Epirus  ;  but  whatever  the  direction  of  his  move- 
ments, it  is  clear  that  he  was  actively  engaged  both  in 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CHURCHES      257 

founding  new  churches,  as  in  Crete,  and  in  revisiting 
the  older  ones.  With  him  others  co-operated,  some 
of  them  men  formerly  associated  with  him,  and  others, 
like  Artemas  and  Zenas  (Tit.  iii.  12,  13),  of  whom  we 
have  not  heard  before.  Meanwhile,  in  all  probability, 
the  Neronian  persecution  had  broken  out  in  Rome,  and 
it  could  not  but  have  made  the  apostle  more  anxious 
to  complete  his  work.  In  I.  Timothy  and  Titus,  how- 
ever, there  is  no  allusion  to  it.  We  only  learn  from 
them  of  the  restless  activity  of  the  apostle,  and  his 
intense  desire  that  his  churches  should  be  true  to  the 
faith  and  should  honor  by  their  lives  the  Christian 
name. 

267.  The  First  Epistle  to  Timothy  and  that  to  Titus 
illustrate  the  growing  need  which  the  apostle  felt  of 
care  in  the  regulation  of  the  organized  life  of  his 
churches.  His  purpose  was  not  in  the  least  to  advance 
organization.  He  does  not  direct  any  addition  to  ex- 
isting offices  nor  exalt  one  above  another.  The  only 
factor,  not  hitherto  mentioned,  is  the  list  of  widows 
supported  by  the  church,  and  this  too  was  evidently  an 
established  custom.  His  aim  was  rather  to  prevent 
abuses  in  the  selection  of  officials  and  of  subjects  of 
aid.  His  language  shows  his  sense  of  the  importance 
of  the  church  as  an  organized  society  (I.  Tim.  iii.  14-lG) 
and  the  need  of  maintaining  a  holy  and  commendable 
life.  This  was  only  the  practical  application  of  the 
idea  of  the  church  universal  which  he  had  given  in  the 
epistle  to  the  Ephesians. 

268.  Yet  these  epistles  do  disclose  something  of  the 
organization  of  the  churches.  Timothy  and  Titus  had 
clearly  been  left  in  charge  temporarily,  not  as  perma- 
nent officers,  but  as  apostolic  delegates.     The  perma- 

17 


258     EXPANSION  OF  CHRISTIANITY  UNDER  PAUL 

nent  officials  consisted  of  overseers,  or  elders,  —  the 
two  terms  being  convertible,  —  and  deacons  (see  sect. 
260).  The  former  were  rulers,  the  latter  ministers  to 
the  poor.  On  the  elders  had  devolved  more  and  more 
the  work  of  teaching  (I.  Tim.  iii.  2 ;  v.  17  ;  Tit.  i.  9 ; 
II.  Tim.  ii.  2).  That  this  was  not  confined  to  them 
appears  from  the  very  injunctions  against  false  teach- 
ers. Neither  did  all  the  elders  devote  themselves  to 
teaching  (I.  Tim.  v.  17),  but  those  that  did  were  to 
have  double  honor.  In  short,  we  notice  that  while  the 
freedom  of  public  teaching  had  not  ceased,  the  burden 
of  regular  instruction  was  devolving  more  on  the  over- 
seers of  the  church ;  and  it  was  plainly  the  view  of  the 
apostle  that  this  was  a  needed  safeguard  of  the  truth. 
This  indeed  was  but  a  further  application  both  of  the 
original  duty  of  the  elder  and  of  what  Paul  had  al- 
ready taught  in  Ephesians  iv.  11-16.  Yet  a  new  em- 
phasis is  evident.  Out  of  the  eldership  the  idea  of  an 
established  teaching,  as  well  as  ruling,  body  had  begun 
to  emerge. 

269.   The  epistles  further  show  the  perils  to  which 

/  the  churches  were  exposed  from  false  teaching  and 
unholy  living.  This  is  a  strange  but  instructive  fact. 
The  apostle  predicted  that  it  would  become  more  and 

I  more  the  case.  His  view  of  the  future  was  not  that  of 
an  idealist.  Error  and  sin  were  manifesting  themselves 
within  the  body.  The  congregations  contained  many 
elements.  Some  were  attracted  who  did  not  fully 
apprehend  the  gospel.  Half-converted  Jews  brought 
in  religious  fables  and  fanciful  speculations  about  Scrip- 
ture and  the  spirit-world.  Religious  excitement  some- 
times engendei-ed  fanaticism.  Philosophic  theories 
were  substituted  for  the  apostolic  faith.     Christianity 


PAUL  AGAIN  A  PRISONER  259 

had  to  defend  its  purity  and  its  lofty  moral  ideal 
as  well  as  prove  its  right  to  exist  at  all.  Hence  the 
apostle's  stress  on  holy  character.  Christianity,  he 
repeats,  must  be  kept  honorable.  Zeal  for  righteous- 
ness and  all  the  kindred  virtues  is  urged  no  less  than 
fidelity  to  truth.  Perhaps  he  was  partly  influenced 
by  the  growing  hatred  of  the  church  by  paganism,  and 
by  the  vile  misrepresentations  of  the  new  sect  which 
were  beginning  to  be  circulated.  There  were  also  real 
perils  within  the  churches  themselves.  These  epistles 
testify  to  the  strenuousness  with  which  the  apostle  of 
faith  wrought  out,  as  the  fruit  of  faith,  a  holy  life,  and 
insisted  upon  it  to  his  converts.  He  knew  that  only  a 
holy  life  could  successfully  meet  the  world's  attack 
upon  the  faith  itself. 

270.  Second  Timothy  discloses  an  entire  change  in 
Paul's  situation.  He  is  again  a  prisoner  at  Rome  (i.  8, 
12,  17 ;  ii.  9  ;  iv.  6),  charged  with  being  a  malefactor 
(ii.  9,  R.  v.).  He  has  had  one  trial  at  which,  though 
deserted  even  by  his  friends,  the  Lord  delivered  him, 
as  he  puts  it,  "  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  lion  "  (iv.  16, 
17);  but  he  fully  expects  death  (iv.  6).  He  is  sorely 
troubled  also  by  the  defection  and  absence  of  some  of 
his  friends  (iv.  10)  and  by  the  positive  enmity  of  others 
who  bore  the  Christian  name  and  who  hailed  from 
Asia  (i.  15).  Alexander,  the  coppersmith,  had  done 
him  much  evil  (iv.  11) ;  many  suppose  that  he  had 
testified  before  the  tribunal  against  Paul.  Yet  other 
friends,  some  of  them  new  to  the  history  (iv.  21),  were 
with  him.  These  scanty  allusions  evidently  imply  that 
he  had  been  again  arrested — where  or  why  we  know 
not  —  and  had  been  again  sent  to  Rome.  He  was  now 
charged  with  crime  by  the  Roman  authorities  them- 


260     EXPANSION  OF   CHRISTIANITY   UNDER   PAUL 

selves.  It  may  be  that  he  was  charged  with  complicity 
in  the  burning  of  Rome  (C.  and  H.,  Life  and  Ep.  of 
St.  Paul,  ii.  472).  It  may  be  that  the  charge  was 
"  hostility  to  established  customs  and  weakening  im- 
perial authority "  {Ramsay,  St.  Paul  the  Trav.,  p. 
361).  There  were  evidently  several  charges,  for, 
though  at  first  not  condemned,  he  was  still  held  a 
prisoner.  He  does  not  say  that  he  was  charged  with 
being  a  Christian.  Yet  that  was  evidently  the  animus 
of  the  charge.  The  Roman  authorities  were  also  ad- 
verse to  him.  He  had  no  hope  of  final  acquittal. 
Clearly  their  attitude  had  much  changed  since  Philip- 
pians  was  written.  This  makes  it  probable  that  the 
Neronian  persecution  had  meanwhile  occurred.  How- 
ever inadequate  the  proof  of  guilt  might  be,  the  Chris- 
tian apostle  was  certain  that  he  would  be  condemned. 

271.  Under  these  circumstances  his  second  letter  to 
Timothy  was  written.  He  wished  Timothy  to  come  to 
him  (iv.  9,  21).  While  calling  him  to  his  side,  he  takes 
the  opportunity  of  pouring  out  his  heart  to  his  beloved 
friend  in  exhortation  and  encouragement.  There  is 
certainly  no  reason  to  suppose,  as  some  have  done, 
that  we  have  here  two  letters  combined,  —  one  urging 
Timothy  to  come  to  Paul ;  the  other  directing  him 
how  to  carry  on  his  work  ;  for  the  charge  to  Timothy 
in  this  letter  is  not,  like  those  in  I.  Timothy,  to  carry 
on  a  specific  work  in  a  specific  place,  but  is  a  general 
exhortation  for  Timothy's  subsequent  life,  and  Paul's 
impending  death  made  him  feel  that  he  must  not  lose 
an  opportunity  of  giving  his  farewell  testament  to  his 
"  son."  Hence  he  exhorts  Timothy  to  be  true  to  him 
and  to  his  teaching  amid  increasing  perils  (i.),  to  be 
faithful  to  duty,  giving  heed  to  his  own  life  and  faith, 


DEATH  OP  PAUL  261 

diligently  upholding  truth  and  resisting  temptation 
(ii.).  He  warns  him  that  error  will  increase,  and  en- 
courages him  to  resist  it  by  recalling  how  he  himself 
had  suffered  in  the  service,  and  by  pointing  him  to  the 
Scriptures  as  the  sure  rule  of  faith  and  life  (iii.)-  With 
a  repeated  charge  to  fidelity  (iv.  1-5),  he  tells  of  his 
own  expectation  of  death  and  joy  in  it,  of  his  desire 
to  see  Timothy  again  (iv.  6-9),  and  closes  with  items 
of  news  and  greetings  (iv.  10-22).  With  this  letter 
our  knowledge  of  Paul's  life  ends.  Tradition  affirms 
that  he  was  beheaded  on  the  Ostian  Way. 


PART    V 

PROGRESS   OF  CHRISTIANITY   TO   THE 
CLOSE   OF   THE   APOSTOLIC   AGE 


I 

HISTOEICAL   SOURCES 

272.    The  anonymous  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  valu- 
able both  for  its  incidental  references  to  the  condition 
of  Judaic  Christianity  (sect.  172)  and  for  its  own  teach- 
ing.    In  the  latter  aspect  it  is  a  source  for  the  period 
now  before  us.     Its  authorship  has    ever  been  a  subject 
of  dispute ;  for  even  in  ancient  times,  while  the  eastern 
churches  received  it  as  Pauline,  there  was  dissent  in 
the  west,  and  Tertullian  states  that  it  was  ascribed  to 
Barnabas.     There  is,  however,  no  book  more  certainly 
written  in  the  apostolic  age,  since  it  was  used  freely 
by  Clement  of  Rome  (a".  d.  96).     Its  internal  features 
make  strongly  against  the  tradition  that  it  was  written 
by  Paul.     Its  anonymity  is  unlike  Paul.     The  writer 
appeals   to   the    confirmation    of   the    Lord's  message 
which  he  and  his    readers    had   received   from   those 
who  had  heard  him  (ii.  3;  iv.  2).     He  had  apparently 
been  associated  with  his  readers  in  the  earlier  days  of 
their  Christian  life  (ii.  4  ;  x.  32  ;  xiii.    7,  R.V.).     His 
smooth  style  and  his  greater  fondness  for  the  Septua- 
gint  point  also  to  another  hand   than  the  apostle's. 
The  "  Alexandrianism  "  of  the  epistle  has  indeed  been 
exaggerated.     Its  interpretations  of  scripture  assume, 
like  Paul's  and  unlike   Philo's,  the   historical   reality 
of  the  inspired  narrative,  and  his  conceptions  show  no 
dependence   on   the  philosopher  (comp.    G.  Milligan, 


266  PROGRESS   OF  CHRISTIANITY 

The  Theol.  of  the  Ep.  to  the  Heb.,  eh.  ix.).  Yet  there 
remain  a  number  of  phrases  and  observations  which  in- 
dicate the  writer's  familiarity  with  Alexandrian  termi- 
nology. Most  decisive,  however,  is  the  difference  of  the 
form  of  theological  conception  from  Paul's.  Both  en- 
tirely harmonize.  But  the  Pauline  expression  of  salva- 
tion "  in  Christ "  is  replaced  by  that  of  the  believer  as 
"  sanctified  "  by  the  work  of  his  priestly  representa- 
tive (ii.  11;  X.  10,  14,  29;  xiii.  12).  Salvation  is  not 
described  as  "  justification,"  but  as  the  "  perfecting  " 
of  man's  relation  to  God  (vi.  1 ;  vii.  11,  19 ;  ix.  9 ;  x. 
1,  14,  40).  The  law  is  presented  from  the  ritual,  not 
from  the  moral,  point  of  view.  Salvation  by  works  is 
not  rejected  because  of  man's  inability  to  keep  the  law 
(Rom.  vii.  9-24),  but  because  material  offerings  cannot 
remove  guilt  (ix.  9,  10).  To  Paul,  man  is  carnal 
(Rom.  vii.  14);  to  this  writer,  the  law  is  (ix.  10  ;  x.  4  ; 
xiii.  9).  Paul's  versatility  was  great ;  but  his  theologi- 
cal conceptions  did  not  thus  change  their  moulds.  At 
the  same  time  this  epistle  notably  coincides  with  Paul's 
both  in  substantial  doctrine  (comp.  i.  2-4  and  Col.  i.  15, 
16,  Eph.  i.  20  ;  ii.  10  and  Rom.  xi.  36  ;  vii.  25  and  Rom. 
viii.  34 ;  vii.  27  and  Rom.  vi.  9, 10  ;  ii.  9  and  Phil.  ii.  8, 9  ; 
ii.  3  and  I.  Cor.  xv.  27  ;  ii.  4  and  I.  Cor.  xii.  11;  ix.  27, 
28  and  Tit.  ii.  13)  and  in  a  peculiar  form  of  quotation 
(x.  30  and  Rom.  xii.  19).  Hence  it  probably  emanated 
from  one  of  his  friends.  It  is  impossible  to  afiirm 
positively  who  wrote  it;  but  of  all  the  guesses  that 
have  been  made,  the  most  plausible  is  that  which 
attributes  it  to  Barnabas. 

273.  The  epistle  was  certainly  addressed  to  Hebrews 
(see  especially  i.  1;  iii.  1-6;  xii.  18-24;  xiii.  13). 
They  were  a  definite  community  (v.  12  ;  vi.  10 ;  x.  32- 


EPISTLES  OF  PETER  267 

34 ;  xiii.  7,  R  Y.)  which  had  long  existed  (v.  12),  had  suf- 
fered imprisonment  and  loss  of  goods  (x.  32-34),  but 
had  not  as  a  community  endured  bloody  persecution 
(xii.  4).  A  great  crisis  was  impending  which  threat- 
ened painful  separation  from  their  former  associations 
(x.  25 ;  xii.  27  ;  xiii.  13,  14),  These  allusions  point  to 
Christians  of  Palestine.  To  no  other  was  the  reproach 
so  applicable  that  "  by  reason  of  time  ye  ought  to  be 
teachers  "  (v.  12).  It  cannot  be  ascertained,  however, 
whether  it  was  sent  to  tlie  church  of  Jerusalem,  or  to 
some  neighboring  community,  or  to  a  portion  of  the 
Jerusalem  church  which  had  on  the  approach  of  the 
war  left  the  city.  It  is  to  be  dated  shortly  before 
the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  since  the  temple  service  was  still 
in  operation  (viii.  4,  5;  x.  25;  xiii.  10-14).  We  may 
assign  it  to  67  or  68  a.  d.  Its  place  of  composition  is 
unknown.  The  phrase  "  they  of  Italy  salute  you  "  (xiii. 
24)  may  indicate  that  the  writer  was  in  Italy  or  merely 
that  certain  Italians  were  with  him. 

274.  The  First  Epistle  of  Peter  was  addressed  to  the 
Christians  in  the  provinces  of  Asia  Minor.  Its  allusions 
to  persecution  (i.  7  ;  iii.  15;  iv.  12,  16)  point  clearly 
to  the  period  following  the  outbreak  of  Nero's  cruelty 
(A.D.  64).  The  apostle  was  in  "  Babylon  "  (v.  13). 
This  term  has  often  been  regarded  as  a  pseudonym  for 
Rome,  and  the  supposition  would  seem  to  be  supported 
by  the  allusions  to  persecution ;  yet  the  simple  episto- 
lary character  of  the  document  makes  the  literal  sense 
more  probable.  The  letter  was  known  to  and  freely 
used  by  the  earliest  ])Ost-apostolic  writers,  nor  is  there 
reason  to  doubt  its  claim  to  be  the  work  of  the  apostle. 

275.  The  genuineness  of  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter 
has  been  more  doubted  than  that  of  any  New  Testa- 


268  PROGRESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

ment  book,  but  substantial  reasons  may  be  given  for 
accepting  its  explicit  claims.  Traces  of  its  use  in  the 
second  century,  though  few,  are  not  wanting  and  have 
been  re-enforced  by  the  lately  recovered  apocryphal 
Apocalypse  of  Peter,  dating  from  about  A.  d.  150,  which 
draws  largely  from  it.  It  explicitly  claims  to  be  by 
Peter,  and  we  should  be  slow  to  believe  that  the  churches, 
which  rejected  other  works  pretending  to  be  his,  were 
imposed  on  by  so  daring  a  forgery.  The  writer  alludes 
to  his  previous  epistle  (iii.  1)  and  shows  the  same  fond- 
ness for  reminiscences  of  his  life  with  Jesus  (i.  14,  16- 
18)  which  is  found  in  First  Peter  (i.  3,  8,  21  ;  ii.  21,  2-3  ; 
V.  1,  5).  In  it,  as  in  the  other,  stress  is  laid  on  prophecy 
(i.  19-21 ;  iii.  2, 13)  and  the  mind  is  fixed  on  the  glory 
to  come  (i.  4,  11,  19 ;  iii.  4,  10,  12-14).  It  is  true  that 
he  emphasizes  more  than  in  the  first  epistle  (iv.  5,  17) 
the  advent  as  the  time  of  punishment  (ii.  1,  3,  9,  13 ; 
iii.  7),  but  this  was  because  he  was  rebuking  false 
teachers  and  evil  men.  The  doctrinal  point  of  view  of 
both  epistles  is  the  same  (comp.  e.  g.  II.  Pet.  i.  3  and 

I.  Pet.  i.  3,  4 ;  II.  Pet.  i.  4 ;   iii.  9  and  I.  Pet.  i.  9,  13  ; 

II.  Pet.  i.  10  and  I.  Pet.  i.  2 ;  v.  10  ;  II.  Pet.  ii.  1  and 
I.  Pet.  i.  18);  and  while  some  new  phrases  occur  in  the 
second  epistle,  they  belonged  to  the  common  Christian 
vocabulary.  In  both  epistles  there  is  the  same  stress 
on  practical  faith  and  godliness,  the  same  absence  of 
doctrinal  discussion,  the  same  use  of  Old  Testament 
illustrations  (II.  Pet.  ii.  and  I.  Pet.  ii.  6,  20).  In  both 
epistles  also  is  to  be  noted  the  disposition  to  use  the 
writings  of  Christian  contemporaries.  First  Peter  con- 
tains many  echoes  of  the  epistles  of  James  and  Paul, 
while  in  Second  Peter  there  is  not  only  a  specific  refer- 
ence to  Paul's  epistles  (iii.  15, 16),  but  an  extensive  use 


EPISTLE   OF  JUDE  269 

of  the  Epistle  of  Jude  (comp.  ii.  1  and  Jude  4 ;  ii.  4  and 
Jude  6 ;  ii.  10  and  Jude  8  ;  ii.  11  and  Jude  9 ;  ii.  12  and 
Jude  10 ;  ii.  13  and  Jude  12).  A  certain  roughness  of 
style,  when  compared  with  First  Peter,  is  to  be 
acknowledged,  but  is  quite  an  insufficient  ground  on 
which  to  deny  a  common  authorship.  The  epistle  was 
probably  written  from  Eome  shortly  before  the  apostle's 
death.  It  was  addressed  to  part  at  least  of  the  same 
circle  of  churches  to  whom  the  first  epistle  had  been 
sent. 

276.  The  Epistle  of  Jude  seems  to  have  been  written 
about  A.  D.  65-67.  The  author  calls  himself  "  a  ser- 
vant of  Jesus  Christ  and  brother  of  James  "  (1).  He 
was  therefore  not  an  apostle,  but  one  of  the  brethren 
of  Jesus,  and,  like  James  (Jas.  i.  1),  felt  himself  worthy 
to  be  called  only  a  servant  of  his  Messiah-brother.  His 
language  implies  that  James  was  better  known  than 
himself,  and  probably  that  he  wrote  after  James'  death. 
It  might  seem  also  to  indicate  that  he  addressed  Jewish 
Christians  ;  but  First  Corinthians  (ix.  6)  shows  that 
the  brethren  of  the  Lord  were,  like  Peter,  evangelists 
well  known  to  the  Gentile  churches,  and  since  Peter 
in  his  later  years  addressed  Gentiles,  Jude  may  have 
done  the  same.  It  is,  moreover,  difficult  to  suppose 
that  the  persons  whom  Jude  denounced  had  appeared 
in  Jewish-Christian  churches  (4-8).  Their  errors  look 
rather  like  the  abuse  of  Pauline  teaching  (comp.  Rom. 
vi.  1-11).  We  may  conjecture  that  the  readers  lived 
in  some  part  of  Asia  Minor.  The  same  facts  point 
also  to  a  date  contemporaneous  with  the  Pastoral 
Epistles.  The  false  Christians  of  Jude  cannot  indeed 
be  identified  with  the  false  teachers  of  First  Timothy 
and  Titns.      They  agree  more  nearly  with  those    de- 


270  PROGRESS   OF  CHRISTIANITY 

scribed  in  Second  Timothy  (iii.  1-9).  Jude  and  the 
Pastorals,  however,  belong  to  the  same  general  situ- 
ation, 

277.  During  the  seventh  decade  appeared  also  the 
synoptic  gospels.  The  first,  from  the  earliest  times 
attributed  to  Matthew,  was  written  from  the  point  of 
view  of  a  Jewish  Christian  emancipated  from  Judaism. 
As  early  as  about  a.  d.  140  (Papias)  we  find  the 
statement  that  Matthew  wrote  originally  in  Hebrew. 
If  so,  the  relation  of  our  Greek  gospel  to  the  original 
is  a  difficult  problem  about  which  the  last  word  has 
not  yet  been  written.  Many  modern  scholars  believe 
that  the  original  consisted  only  or  mainly  of  a  col- 
lection of  Christ's  discourses,  and  that  our  gospel  was 
called  Matthew's  because  it  embodies  these  discourses 
with  historical  matter  derived  from  anothe;^  source. 
But  from  what  we  know  of  the  apostolic  preaching, 
it  is  improbable  that  an  early  gospel  did  not  contain 
the  acts  as  well  as  the  words  of  Jesus,  and  especially 
that  it  did  not  contain  a  history  of  the  passion.  This 
theory,  moreover,  rests  upon  an  interpretation  of  the 
word  "  logia,"  used  by  Papias  to  describe  Matthew's 
work,  in  the  sense  of  "  discourses,"  whereas  the  term  is 
employed  in  the  New  Testament,  by  Philo  and  by  the 
early  fathers,  in  the  sense  of  "  oracles,"  or  divine  com- 
munications, and  is  constantly  applied  to  inspired  books, 
either  in  whole  or  in  their  parts.  We  are  not  war- 
ranted, therefore,  in  departing  from  the  belief,  which 
the  same  line  of  tradition  affirmed,  that  our  first 
gospel  was  the  work  of  Matthew.  Possibly  he  issued 
botli  a  Hebrew  and  a  Greek  edition.  The  efforts  of 
recent  scholars  to  recover  the  original  Hebrew  by 
retranslation  either  of   this   gospel  alone,  or  of  it  in 


THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS  271 

combination  with  Mark  and  Luke,  cannot  be  regarded 
as  successful. 

278.  Our  second  gospel  was  universally  considered 
in  the  second  century  to  have  been  written  by  Mark 
at  Rome  and  to  have  embodied  largely  the  preaching 
of  Peter,  whose  "  interpreter "  Mark  was  said  to 
have  become.  Its  connection  with  Peter  is  somewhat 
confirmed  by  the  fact  that  it  lays  stress  on  the  miracu- 
lous events  of  Jesus'  life  as  Peter  always  did  (Acts  ii. 
22 ;  s.  38 ;  I.  Pet.  i.  3  ;  II.  Pet.  i.  16,  17),  and  con- 
tains a  number  of  vivid  details  which  indicate  the 
recollection  of  an  observant  eye-witness  {e.g.  iii.  5;  v. 
39,  40 ;  viii.  12,  34).  It  was  plainly  written  for  Gcn-\ 
tiles  (comp.  i.  9  ;  v.  41  ;  vii.  3,  4  ;  xii.  42  ;  xiv.  13 ; ' 
XV.  42),  and  is  a  graphic,  pictorial  narrative  descrip- 
tive especially  of  the  power  of  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God. 
There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  we  possess  it  in  its 
original  form,  save  that  the  last  twelve  verses  are 
wanting.  The  original  conclusion  seems  to  have  been 
lost,  and  was  replaced,  not  later  than  the  beginning  of 
the  second  century,  by  our  present  text,  compiled  from 
the  other  gospels  and  other  sources. 

279.  Our  third  gospel  was  written  by  the  author  of 
Acts  (Acts  i.  1,  2),  who  has  already  been  identified  as 
Luke  (sect.  3).  This  gospel  shows  more  of  the  spirit 
and  method  of  an  historian  than  do  the  other  synop- 
tics. He  expressly  states  the  care  with  which  he 
collected  his  material  (i.  1-4),  deriving  it  doubtless 
both  from  earlier  documents  and  personal  communi- 
cation with  the  original  actors  in  the  primitive  his- 
tory. He  seems  to  have  contemplated  from  the  start 
the  composition  of  both  his  works  and  to  have  aimed 
at  a  systematic  presentation  of  the  rise  and  establish- 


272  PROGRESS   OF  CHRISTIANITY 

meiit  of  Gentile  Christianity,  His  gospel  should  prob- 
ably be  assigned  also  to  the  years  a.  d.  60-70.  At 
any  rate  his  report  of  Christ's  prediction  of  the  fall 
of  Jerusalem  is  not,  as  some  maintain,  sufficient 
ground  for  dating  the  book  after  that  event ;  since  his 
language  (xxi.  20)  is  only  an  interpretation  of  Christ's 
words  (comp.  Matt.  xxiv.  15 ;  Mark  xiii.  14)  designed 
to  make  their  meaning  clear  to  Gentile  readers,  and 
that  the  Christians,  on  the  basis  of  Christ's  teaching, 
expected  the  destruction  of  the  city  is  proved  by 
Mark's  report  as  well  as  by  much  other  evidence.  It 
is  not  improbable  that  Luke  gathered  his  materials 
while  Paul  was  in  prison  at  Csesarea,  and  that  he 
wrote  his  gospel  in  Rome.  The  influence  upon  him  of 
Paul  appears  from  the  stress  he  lays  on  the  universal 
mission  of  Christ  (e.  g.  ii.  32 ;  iv.  16-30  ;  xiii.  28-30 ; 
xiv.  16-24  ;  xix.  10  ;  xxiv.  47),  and  from  the  connec- 
tion between  certain  passages  in  his  narrative  and 
Paul's  statements  (comp.  Luke  x.  7  and  I.  Tim.  v.  18  ; 
Luke  X.  8  and  I.  Cor.  x.  27 ;  Luke  xxii.  19-21  and  I. 
Cor.  xi.  23-25 ;  Luke  xxiv.  34  and  I.  Cor.  xv.  5). 

280.  At  some  time  subsequent  to  the  composition 
of  the  third  gospel  Luke  issued  the  Acts,  a  discussion 
of  which  has  already  been  given  (sects.  3-6).  Its  exact 
date  is  still  a  matter  of  dispute.  Its  closing  words 
cannot  be  held  to  prove  that  it  was  written,  as  many 
have  thought,  immediately  after  the  two  years  of 
Paul's  first  Roman  imprisonment.  It  can  only  be 
dated  roughly  in  the  period  following  Paul's  release 
up  to  the  probable  term  of  Luke's  life,  say,  a.  d.  63-75. 
Its  high  value  as  a  source  for  apostolic  history  has 
been  repeatedly  shown  in  our  narrative. 

281.  Finally,  we  have  from  the  closing  years  of  the 


THE   WRITINGS  OF  JOHN  273 

first  century  the  Johannean  literature.  It  is  true  that 
the  apostle's  authorship  of  all  or  some  of  the  five 
books  which  go  by  his  name  has  been  hotly  debated. 
But  tliat  they  existed  and  were  used  like  other  apos- 
tolic books  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  century  is 
certain  (comp.  e.  g.  Resell,  Aussercanon.  Paralleltexte 
zu  d.  Evang.  4tes  Heft.  1896).  That  the  author  of  the 
fourth  gospel  wrote  also  the  epistles  is  indisputable 
from  the  identity  of  vocabulary  and  style.  Examina- 
tion also  confirms  the  traditional  belief  that  he  was 
the  writer  of  "  Revelation  "  (comp.  Harnack,  Chronolo- 
gie,  p.  675).  It  is  true  that  the  latter  book  has  many 
grammatical  constructions  peculiar  to  it ;  but  these 
were  due  to  its  apocalyptic  style  and  the  influence  on 
it  of  the  language  of  older  prophecies.  The  gospel 
and  "  Revelation  "  are  both  in  thoroughly  Hebraistic 
style,  have  a  large  body  of  peculiar  words  and  phrases 
in  common,  while  their  leading  doctrinal  ideas  are 
identical  and  some  of  them  unique  among  the  books 
of  the  New  Testament  {e.g.  comp.  John  i.  1  and  Rev. 
xix,  13  ;  John  i.  28 ;  xix.  36  and  Rev.  v.  6 ;  xiii.  8  ; 
John  iii.  29  and  Rev.  xxi.  2,  9  ;  John  xix.  34  and  Rev. 
i.  7;  John  viii.  44  and  Rev.  ii.  9;  John  vii.  37  and 
Rev.  xxii.  17).  Still  less  is  there  ground  for  suppos- 
ing that  any  other  John  than  the  apostle  was  the 
author.  Besides  being  evidently  a  Jqv^^  and  showing 
himself  intimately  familiar  with  the  geography  and 
customs  of  Palestine  during  Christ's  time,  he  closes 
his  gospel  with  the  explicit  statement  that  he  was  the 
disciple  whom  Jesus  loved  (xxi.  20,  24),  and  none  will 
doubt  that  by  that  phrase  we  are  to  understand  the 
son  of  Zebedee.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  statement 
is  not  only  that  "  this  is  the  disciple  which  testifieth 

18 


274  PROGRESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

of  these  things,"  as  if  the  author  obtained  his  informa- 
tion from  John  ;  but  it  is  added  that  he  "  wrote  these 
things."  We  learn  also  from  the  first  epistle  that  he 
was  an  eye-witness  of  Jesus'  life  (i.  1),  and  wrote  in 
the  name  of  the  apostolic  body  (i.  3-5).  The  gospel 
and  first  epistle  are  to  be  dated  a.  d.  80-90. 

282.  With  regard  to  the  "  Revelation "  it  may  be 
further  remarked  that  its  style  and  vocabulary  proves 
it  to  be  the  work  of  one  hand  throughout.  The  opinion 
has  recently  found  favor  that  the  author  incorporated 
into  his  book  earlier  apocalypses.  Such  a  procedure 
is  not  in  itself  inconceivable ;  but  the  arguments  ad- 
vanced for  it  assume  interpretations  of  some  passages 
and  views  of  the  relation  of  thought  between  visions 
and  parts  of  visions  which  are  not  demonstrable,  and 
which,  in  view  of  the  literary  unity  of  the  book,  go 
beyond  the  limits  of  safe  criticism.  On  the  other 
hand,  critical  opinion  appears  to  be  steadily  returning 
to  the  traditional  view  that  the  Revelation  Avas  com- 
posed in  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Domitian, 
between  a.  d.  90  and  96.  We  are  not  concerned  with 
the  value  of  the  Johannean  writings  for  the  life  of 
Christ.  They  throw,  however,  much  light  on  the  ex- 
ternal situation  of  the  churches  of  Asia  during  the 
last  quarter  of  the  first  century,  and  still  more  on 
the  currents  of  thought  which  were  then  felt  among 
the  Christians. 


II 

THE  LAST  YEAES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PETER 

288.  It  remains  to  sketch  briefly  the  progress  of 
Christianity  outside  of  and  subsequent  to  its  expan- 
sion under  Paul.  His  influence  indeed  extended  and 
may  be  traced  in  the  literary  remains  of  his  contem- 
poraries and  immediate  followers.  Information  con- 
cerning his  fellow-workers  is,  moreover,  scanty  and 
sporadic  ;  but  enough  exists  to  afford  glimpses  into 
the  course  which  the  new  religion  took,  its  successes 
and  its  perils,  its  progress  and  its  unity,  until  its 
creative  period  drew  to  a  close.  We  naturally  inquire 
first  concerning  the  work  of  Paul's  chief  fellow-apostle, 
Simon  Peter. 

284.  The  life  of  Peter  after  the  council  at  Jerusalem 
is  wrapped  in  obscurity.  The  tradition,  first  mentioned 
by  Eusebius  (HE.  II,  14-17),  that  he  went  to  Rome 
during  the  reign  of  Claudius  (a.  d.  41-54),  and  died 
under  Nero  in  the  same  year  with  Paul ;  still  more, 
that,  as  reported  by  Jerome  (De  vir.  illustr.  1),  he  was 
the  head  of  the  Roman  church  for  twenty-five  years, — 
is  inconsistent,  save  as  regards  the  time  of  his  death, 
with  the  data  furnished  by  the  New  Testament  books. 
Shortly  after  the  council  we  find  him  at  Antioch 
(Gal.  ii.  11 ;  see  sect.  162).  This  was  probably  in  a.  d. 
51 ;  and  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans  (a.  d.  57  or  58 ; 
sect.  232)  forbids  the  supposition  that  Peter  had  then 


276  PROGRESS   OF  CHRISTIANITY 

been  laboring  in  the  capital,  not  only  by  its  silence 
about  him,  but  still  more  by  Paul's  declared  principle 
not  to  enter  on  another's  territory  (II.  Cor.  x.  IG  ;  Rom. 
XV.  20-24).  Paul,  however,  alludes  to  Peter  as  a  mis- 
sionary well  known  to  the  Corinthians  (I.  Cor.  ix.  6). 
It  is  not  probable,  indeed,  that  Peter  had  then  visited 
Corinth.  True,  Dionysius  of  Corinth  (a.  d.  160)  men- 
tions him,  as  well  as  Paul,  as  one  who  had  planted 
Christianity  in  that  city.  But  if  his  statement  rested 
on  fact,  it  is  more  probable  that  Peter  did  not  visit 
Corinth  until  after  Paul's  epistles  to  that  church  had 
been  written.  The  agreement  between  Paul  and  the 
leaders  of  the  Jerusalem  church  (Gal.  ii.  9)  makes  it 
certain  that  in  the  years  immediately  following  the 
council  Peter's  work  lay  among  the  Jews,  and,  since 
James  was  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  Judea,  among  the 
Jews  of  the  dispersion.  If  "  Babylon,"  from  which 
First  Peter  was  written  (v.  13),  is  to  be  understood 
literally,  we  infer  that  the  apostle  went  to  the  far 
east ;  and  in  any  event  that  was  a  natural  direction 
for  him  to  take.  The  absence  of  his  name  also  from 
the  epistles  written  by  Paul  during  his  first  Roman 
imprisonment  makes  it  still  further  improbable  that 
he  had  visited  the  capital  as  late  as  a.d.  63. 

285.  Yet  the  tradition  that  Peter  finally  suffered 
martyrdom  at  Rome  is  too  early  and  constant  to  be 
rejected.  His  martydom  itself  is  obviously  attested 
by  John  xxi.  18,  19.  His  death  is  associated  with 
Paul's  by  Clement  of  Rome  (a.  d.  96).  Ignatius  (a.  d. 
110)  wrote  to  the  Romans,  "  I  do  not  command  you 
as  Peter  and  Paul."  Dionysius  of  Corinth  (a.  d.  160) 
mentions  the  two  apostles  as  having  taught  together  in 
Italy  and  suffered  martyrdom  at  (or  about)  the  same 


DEATH   OF  PETER  277 

time  ;  and  thereafter  the  tradition  appears  universally 
accepted.  Tradition,  moreover,  associated  Mark's  gos- 
pel with  Peter's  preaching,  and  assigned  to  that  gospel 
a  Roman  origin.  We  must  believe,  therefore,  that,  after 
Paul's  release,  and  hence  after  his  establishment  of 
Gentile  Christianity,  Peter  turned  to  the  west  and 
finally  went  to  the  capital.  This  implies  that  the 
division  of  fields  of  labor  ceased  when  the  unity  of 
Jew  and  Gentile  in  the  church  became  an  accom- 
plished and  recognized  fact ;  and  such  is  the  intima- 
tion of  Paul  himself  in  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians 
(ii.  14-22;  iii.  5;  iv.  1-16). 

286.  The  exact  date,  however,  of  Peter's  death  is  a 
matter  of  doubt.  The  prevalent  belief  of  the  early 
church  was  that  he  died  under  Nero  in  a.  d.  67  or  68. 
The  death  under  Nero  is  implied  in  the  statement  of 
Dionysius  of  Corinth,  that  he  died  at  (or  about)  the 
same  time  as  Paul ;  and  this  tradition  became  so 
fixed  that  in  the  fourth  century  the  two  apostles  were 
said  to  have  suffered  on  the  same  day.  The  later 
form  of  the  report  is,  however,  quite  untrustworthy 
(Harnack,  Chronologic,  p.  201),  and  even  the  general 
fact,  though  well  attested,  has  been  disputed.  Thus 
Professor  Ramsay  thinks  (Ch.  in  Rom.  Emp.  p.  283) 
that,  since  one  Roman  tradition,  preserved  in  Tertul- 
lian,  declared  that  Peter  ordained  Clement  as  head  of 
the  Roman  church,  the  earliest  belief  must  have  been 
that  the  apostle  survived  the  i^eign  of  Nero.  But  this 
inference  is  precarious,  since  we  do  not  know  to  what 
date  that  tradition  assigned  the  ordination  of  Clement, 
and  since  the  other  tradition,  assigning  Peter's  death 
to  Nero's  reign,  was  more  prevalent.  On  the  other 
hand,  Harnack  would  date  the  death  of  both  Peter  and 


278  PROGRESS  OF   CHRISTIANITY 

Paul  as  early  as  a.  d.  64,  the  year  of  the  outbreak  of 
Nero's  persecution  (Chronologic,  p.  243,  note  1) ;  but 
the  reasons  for  this  date,  so  far  as  concerns  Peter,  are 
not  convincing,  and  are  acknowledged  to  be  inconsist- 
ent with  the  claims  of  First  Peter  to  be  the  work  of 
the  apostle  (see  Appendix).  It  is  most  probable, 
therefore,  that  the  common  tradition  is  approximately 
correct,  and  that  Peter  suffered  in  Rome  toward  the 
close  of  Nero's  reign.  That  he  was  crucified  seems  to 
be  implied,  though  not  certainly,  in  John  xxi.  18,  19. 
This  is  all  that  history  knows.  Further  particulars 
about  his  death  belong  to  the  realm  of  legend. 

287.  His  first  epistle  discloses  in  a  lively  way  both 
the  teaching  of  the  apostle  and  the  condition  of  Chris- 
tianity among  the  provinces  of  Asia  Minor,  to  the 
disciples  in  which  it  was  addressed  (i,  1).  The  apostle 
implies  that  he  himself  had  not  evangelized  his  readers 
(i.  12).  They  were  for  the  most  part  of  Gentile  origin 
(i.  14,  18,  21;  ii.  10;  iv.  3),  and  the  description  of 
them  as  "  the  elect  who  are  sojourners  of  the  disper- 
sion" (i.  1,  R.  V.)  is  due  to  the  complete  transfer  of  the 
idea  of  Israel  to  the  Christian  community  (see  i.  17  ; 
ii.  5,  9-11).  Their  situation  was  one  of  increasing 
temptation  and  peril.  Their  faith  in  the  risen  Lord 
was  exposed  to  sore  trial  (i.  7).  They  needed  to  real- 
ize the  duty  of  sober  and  steadfast  hope  of  the  glory  to 
come  (i.  13).  In  particular  did  they  need  to  refute  by 
their  lives  the  charge  of  being  evil-doers  (ii.  12 ;  iii. 
16),  to  prove  their  loyalty  to  civil  authority  (ii.  18-15), 
and  to  act  well  as  members  of  society  (ii.  16-18 ;  iii. 
7).  They  were  evidently  suspected  by  their  pagan 
neighbors,  and  were  liable  to  suffer  through  gross  mis- 
representations (iii.  15).     The  writer  warns   them  to 


BEGINNINGS  OF  PERSECUTION  279 

be  willing  to  suffer,  but  that  they  must  not  give  just 
occasion  for  it  (iii.  17).  In  fact,  they  must  prepare 
for  a  more  fiery  trial  than  any  they  had  known  (iv. 
12).  They  might  well  rejoice,  if  called  to  suffer  for 
being  Christians  (iv.  16),  remembering  the  like  suffer- 
ings of  their  brethren  elsewhere  (v.  9).  But  they 
must  be  careful  not  to  be  guilty  of  any  real  offence, 
lest  they  dishonor  the  cause  for  which  they  stand. 

288.  These  exhortations  point  to  a  time  when  the 
prosecution  of  Christians  by  the  civil  authorities  was 
a  real  possibility.  Yet  it  is  clear  that  other  charges 
than  their  Christianity  were  likely  to  be  made  against 
them  as  the  ground  of  the  prosecution.  This  situation 
corresponds  to  what  we  know  of  the  period  which 
followed  the  outbreak  of  Nero's  attack  upon  the  Chris- 
tians of  Rome.  At  first  they  were  punished  osten- 
sibly for  alleged  crimes  against  society.  Soon,  however, 
Christianity  itself  became  a  crime.  The  combination 
of  the  earlier  and  the  later  phase  of  the  government's 
hostility  is  plainly  the  situation  presented  by  the 
epistle  {Ramsay,  Ch.  in  the  Emp.  p.  282).  We  see 
no  reason,  however,  to  believe  with  Professor  Ramsay 
that  the  proscription  of  "  the  Name "  did  not  become 
the  established  policy  of  the  Roman  government  till 
after  the  reign  of  Nero.  Suetonius  (Nero,  16)  testi- 
fies that  in  Nero's  police  regulations  Christians  as 
such  were  classed  with  common  criminals,  and  that 
implies  that  Christianity  was  already  regarded  as  prac- 
tically the  proof  of  crime.  Our  epistle  may,  therefore, 
be  placed  shortly  after  the  outbreak  of  Nero's  persecu- 
tion, in  A.  D.  65  or  QQ.  We  do  not  know,  indeed,  from 
other  sources  that  the  persecution  extended  to  the 
provinces,  neither  do  we  know  that  it  did  not.     Natu- 


280  PROGRESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

rally  it  would  at  least  influence  the  attitude  of  pro- 
vincial officers  toward  the  sect  which  the  emperor 
himself  had  denounced.  The  epistle,  moreover,  speaks 
of  persecution  rather  as  impending  than  as  present. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  hatred  of  the  Roman 
populace  against  the  Christians  was  echoed  in  the 
provinces ;  and  that  when  once  the  imperial  govern- 
ment had  set  the  example,  lower  officials  would  be 
ready  to  listen  to  similar  charges,  and  in  some  in- 
stances to  initiate  action. 

289.  Christianity,  therefore,  was,  for  the  first  time  so 
far  as  our  records  show,  called  on  to  face  the  hostility 
of  the  empire  and  of  Roman  society.  It  was  the 
beginning  of  the  conflict  which  was  to  last  for  two 
and  a  half  centuries.  The  first  fierce  outbreak,  which 
the  Roman  historian  (see  sect.  1)  records  in  con- 
densed but  clear  language,  had  already  occurred.  Its 
echoes  were  being  heard  througliout  the  world.  Chris- 
tianity could  only  try  to  meet  the  emergency  by  follow- 
ing the  exhortation  of  Peter  to  lives  of  such  purity  as 
would  disarm  enmity  and  prove  the  value  to  the  state 
and  to  humanity  of  the  new  religion.  With  the  rising 
danger,  moreover,  the  Christian  brotherhood  in  all 
lands  was  drawn  more  closely  together  and  the  com- 
mon faith  received  fresh  emphasis.  Accordingly  in 
Peter's  epistle  the  influence  of  earlier  Christian  writ- 
ings is  plainly  manifest.  He  betrays  the  influence 
upon  him  of  both  James  (comp.  e.  g.  i.  6  and  Jas,  i,  2, 
3  ;  i.  7  and  Jas.  i.  3  ;  v.  5  and  Jas.  iv.  6 ;  iv.  8  and 
Jas.  v.  20)  and  Paul.  Acquaintance  with  the  epistle 
to  the  Ephcsians  is  specially  evident  (comp.  i.  3,  4  and 
Eph.  i.  3;  i.  5  and  Eph.  i.  19;  i.  20  and  Eph.  i.  4;  ii. 
5,  6  and  Eph.  ii.  20-22  ;  iii.  22  and  Eph.  i.  21 ;  also  v. 


THE   TEACHING   OF   PETER  281 

4  and  Col.  iii.  4  ;  i.  1  and  Rom.  viii.  29  ;  i.  14  and 
Rom.  xii.  2;  ii.  10  and  Rom.  ix.  25,  etc.).  With  appar- 
ent reference  to  the  fact  that  his  readers  were  mainly 
Pauline  Christians,  he  closes  with  the  injunction, "  this 
is  the  true  grace  of  God :  stand  ye  fast  therein "  (v. 
12,  R.  V.)  The  earlier  division  of  labor  had  ceased. 
The  consciousness  of  a  common  faith  in  the  face  of 
common  perils  liad  obliterated  it.  Tlie  apostle  of  the 
circumcision  united  with  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  in 
strengthening  the  disciples  on  the  basis  of  their  com- 
mon relationship  to  the  one  Lord  and  one  church. 

290.  On  the  other  hand  Peter's  teaching  has  an 
individuality  of  its  own.  This  epistle  contains  numer- 
ous reminiscences  of  his  life  with  Jesus,  and  especially 
of  the  Lord's  sufferings  (i.  3,  8,  21 ;  ii.  21,  23  ;  v.  1, 
5).  In  it  also,  as  in  Peter's  speeches  in  Acts,  Chris- 
tianity is  notably  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy  (i.  10-12, 
25 ;  ii.  6,  24 ;  iii.  21) ;  and  what  had  been  fulfilled 
gave  new  eagerness  to  the  writer's  expectation  of  the 
further  glory  to  come  (i.  3-9,  13 ;  iv.  7,  13 ;  v.  1,  4, 
10),  so  that  he  has  been  well  called  "  the  apostle  of 
hope."  For  him  also  faith  is  the  only  condition  of 
salvation  (i.  5,  8,  9,  21 ;  ii.  4,  7 ;  v.  9) ;  but  he  lays 
stress  on  the  historic  agencies  by  which  Christian  faith 
had  been  created  (i.  3,  21,  23).  He  represents  it  also, 
like  James,  as  faith  in  God  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ 
(i.  21)  and  as  manifested  in  obedience  (i.  1,  14 ;  ii.  1,  7, 
15  ;  iii.  12, 16  ;  iv.  1,  2).  He  does  not  unfold,  as  Paul 
had  done,  the  nature  of  Christ ;  yet  not  only  is  God 
"  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ "  (i.  3), 
but  Christ  is  made  the  supreme  object  of  love  (i.  8,  9) 
as  well  as  of  faith  (i.  8,  9  ;  ii.  7),  the  means  of  access 
to  God  (ii.  5 ;  iv.  11 ;  v.  10),  the  corner-stone  of  the 


282  PROGRESS   OF    CHRISTIANITY 

spiritual  temple  (ii.  4),  the  sinless  example  (ii.  21,  22; 
iv.  1,  13),  the  head  of  the  church  (ii.  25;  iv.  4),  and 
the  Lord  of  the  universe  (iii.  22),  while  reference  is 
made  to  his  activity  through  the  Spirit  before  his  in- 
carnation (i.  11 ;  iii.  19,  20).  The  work  of  Christ  is 
represented  as  consisting  fundamentally  in  his  sacri- 
ficial death  (i.  1,  11,  18,  19 ;  ii.  24 ;  iii.  18 ;  iv.  1)  and 
in  his  resurrection,  whereby  he  has  entered  on  the 
exercise  of  his  saving  power  (i.  3,  11,  21 ;  iii.  21). 
To  Peter  as  to  Paul  all  Christians  are  the  true  Israel, 
but  Peter  is  specially  fond  of  the  thought  (i.  1 ;  ii.  5, 
9,  10).  The  epistle,  therefore,  has  a  strong  individu- 
ality of  its  own.  Its  leading  motive,  however,  is  hor- 
tatory rather  than  didactic.  It  is  not  concerned  to 
preserve  the  faith  from  false  teaching,  but  from  the 
influences  of  trial  and  temptation.  This  corresponds 
with  Peter's  disposition;  and  just  because  of  his  solici- 
tude that  the  Christians  might  honor  by  their  lives  the 
name  of  Christ,  and  might  not  flinch  before  the  fierce 
trials  which  threatened  them,  does  his  epistle  cast  a 
peculiarly  interesting  light  on  the  situation  in  which, 
after  the  outbreak  of  persecution  by  the  Roman  author- 
ities, the  new  religion  found  itself. 

291.  There  were,  however,  perils  from  within  as  well 
as  from  without,  and  these  both  practical  and  theo- 
retical. Some  idea  of  them  may  be  gleaned  from  the 
Second  Epistle  of  Peter  and  from  the  closely  allied 
Epistle  of  Jude.  Since  the  latter  appears  to  have  been 
written  before  the  former,  and  presents  much  the  same 
danger  in  a  less  developed  form,  it  may  be  noticed  first. 

292.  Of  Jude  himself  we  know  nothing  beyond  what 
is  implied  in  his  being  one  of  the  Lord's  brethren 
(sect.  276)  and  an  evangelist  (I.  Cor.  ix.  5).     A  story 


THE   TEACHING   OF  JUDE  283 

was  related  by  Hegesippus  {Eus.  HE.  III.  20)  that 
Judc's  grandchildren  were  summoned  for  examination 
before  the  suspicious  Domitian  because  they  were  de- 
scendants of  David.  They  proved  themselves,  however, 
to  be  hard-working  farmers,  and  declared  that  their 
faith  taught  them  to  expect  only  a  heavenly  kingdom 
at  the  end  of  the  world.  Thereupon  the  emperor  dis- 
missed them  with  contempt.  If  the  story  be  true,  it 
implies  that  in  the  reign  of  Domitian  (a.  d.  81-96) 
Jude  himself  was  dead. 

293.  His  epistle  is  an  indignant  invective  against 
certain  false  disciples,  and  the  churches  into  which  they 
had  intruded  appear  most  probably  to  have  been  located 
in  Asia  (sect.  276).  He  describes  them  as  immoral 
men,  veritable  antinomians,  who  turned  grace  into 
lasciviousness,  and  virtually  denied  "  the  only  Master 
and  Lord,  Jesus  Christ"  (4,  R.  V.).  Lewdness  was 
their  passion  (5-8),  and  was  defended  under  the  plea 
of  higher  knowledge  (8-10).  They  are  reproved  not  for 
teaching  error  but  for  practising  it.  They  mingled  in 
the  Christian  feasts,  and  even  dared  to  take  conspicuous 
parts  (12-16).  They  formed  also  exclusive  coteries, 
claiming  to  possess  the  Spirit  (19).  With  great  variety 
of  rhetorical  figure  Jude  depicts  the  shameful  folly  of 
these  sinful  men  (10,  12,  13,  16-23).  He  too,  like 
Peter,  wrote  in  the  name  of  the  common  faith  (3,  20). 
His  Jewish  training  appears  in  his  illustrations  not 
only  from  Hebrew  history  (5,  7, 11),  but  also  from  tra- 
dition and  extracanonical  literature  (6,  9, 14, 15).  But 
he  appealed  especially  to  tlie  teachings  of  the  apostles  as 
the  recognized  authority  (17, 18).  His  brief  letter  thus 
discloses  a  new  and  unexpected  danger  to  which  Chris- 
tianity was  exposed.    The  doctrines  of  grace  and  liberty 


284  PROGRESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

were  liable  to  be  grossly  abused.  Against  such  carnal 
influences,  as  well  as  against  Judaism  and  speculative 
philosophy,  did  the  leaders  have  to  strive.  That  they 
did  so  is  another  evidence  of  the  clearness  and  com- 
pleteness with  which  they  apprehended  the  faith  itself. 
On  the  other  hand,  these  alien  influences  reveal  the 
agitation  of  society  produced  by  Christianity,  and  fore- 
shadow the  corruption  to  which  in  the  following  age 
some  of  the  churches  yielded. 

294.  In  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter  the  same  class  of 
perils  against  which  Jude  had  warned  reappear  along 
with  others.  The  errors,  however,  are  now  positively 
advanced  by  false  teachers.  The  epistle  was  doubtless 
written  from  Rome  not  long  before  the  apostle's  death 
(i.  14),  and  was  addressed  to  the  same  circle,  or  at 
least  to  a  part  of  it,  to  which  the  first  epistle  had  been 
sent  (iii.  1).  He  had  evidently  read  and  used  the 
Epistle  of  Jude  (comp.  ii.  1  and  Jude  4  ;  ii.  4  and  Jude 
6 ;  ii.  10  and  Jude  8 ;  ii.  11  and  Jude  9 ;  ii.  12  and 
Jude  10  ;  ii.  13  and  Jude  12)  and  wrote  to  those  fam- 
iliar with  the  epistles  of  Paul  (iii.  15,  16).  He  tells 
us  also,  besides  his  references  to  antinomians  (ii.  1  to 
iii.  3),  of  some  who  had  begun  to  question  whether  the 
Lord  would  indeed  return  (ii.  4).  The  apostle  exhorts 
his  readers  to  hold  to  the  faith  which  they  had  been 
taught,  denounces  the  wickedness  and  predicts  the 
punishment  of  the  false  teachers,  and  solemnly  affirms 
that  the  Lord  will  come,  judgment  will  be  issued,  and 
the  present  world  be  destroyed  by  fire. 

295.  We  thus  see  that  Gentile  Christianity  had  no 
sooner  been  established  than  it  was  threatened  with 
internal  and  external  perils  of  the  most  serious  kinds. 
Alien    teaching    and    practical   immorality    appeared 


PERILS  OF  THE  CHURCH  285 

within;  while  the  enmity  of  the  empire  and  the  sus- 
picions of  the  populace  loomed  darkly  without.  There 
is,  indeed,  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  majority  of  the 
disciples  were  everywhere  witnessing  to  the  holiness 
and  spiritual  power  of  the  new  life  which  had  been 
begotten  within  them;  yet  the  need  shown  by  these 
epistles  of  their  being  warned  against  the  intrusions  of 
error  proves  that  their  condition  was  by  no  means  an 
ideal  one,  and  forewarns  us  that  the  full  establishment 
of  the  Christianity  taught  by  the  apostles  was  destined 
to  be  a  slow  and  arduous  process.  It  was  in  part  the 
perception  of  this  fact  that  led  the  latter  to  realize  the 
importance  for  the  future  of  their  written  instructions 
(11.  Pet.  ii.  15 ;  iii.  1,  2)  and  to  bequeath  an  authori- 
tative literature  to  the  church. 


Ill 


THE  FINAL  TRANSITION   FKOM  JUDAISM  TO 
CHKISTIANITY 

296.  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  turns  our  attention 
once  more  to  Christianity  in  Palestine ;  not,  however, 
merely  to  the  condition  of  the  Jewish  disciples  (sect. 
172),  but  to  the  larger  fact  of  the  real  transition  which 
apostolic  teaching  effected  from  the  religion  of  Moses 
to  Christ.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was  written 
shortly  before  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  (sect.  273),  and 
that  the  increasing  troubles  of  the  Jewish  nation,  the 
evident  approach  of  the  crisis  in  her  history  (see  Heb. 
X.  25),  the  widening  separation  of  even  the  Jewish 
Christians  from  their  former  associations,  together  with 
the  rapid  growth  of  Gentile  Christianity,  suggested  to 
the  author  his  exposition. 

297.  The  epistle  presents  Christianity  as  the  legiti- 
mate and  divinely  intended  result  of  the  religion  of 
Moses.  It  supplies  a  place  in  apostolic  teaching  the 
loss  of  which  would  have  been  irreparable.  Judaic 
Christianity  had  hitherto  presented  the  gospel  as 
the  true  interpretation  of  the  law,  and  remained  de- 
voted to  the  observance  of  the  ritual.  The  apostle  of 
the  Gentiles  had  wrought  out,  by  deed  and  word,  the 
independence  of  the  gospel  both  from  Jewish  cere- 
monialism and  from  the  attendant  disposition  to  rely 
for  salvation  upon  works  of  all  kinds.  Yet  it  was 
assumed  by  all  that  the  religion  of  Moses  had  been 


THE   EPISTLE   TO  THE   HEBREWS  287 

divinely  revealed.  There  was  need,  from  the  view- 
point both  of  the  intellect  and  of  practical  necessity, 
that  the  independence  of  the  new  should  be  set  forth 
on  the  basis  of  the  old,  that  the  former  should  be 
shown  to  be  the  goal  for  which  the  latter  had  been 
intended  positively  to  prepare.  Only  thus  could  Juda- 
ism fully  merge  into  Christianity.  It  was  given  to 
the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  to  do  this, 
and  thus  at  once  complete  the  transition  for  the  Jew 
and  preserve  for  the  Gentile  the  permanent  truths  of 
Mosaism. 

298.  The  bearing  of  this  epistle  on  the  actual  con- 
dition of  the  Jewish  Christians  has  already  been 
pointed  out  (sect.  172).  We  are  now  concerned  with 
it  as  a  monument  of  apostolic  thought,  disclosing  one 
phase  of  the  truth  which  was  destined  to  permeate  the 
world.  It  is  a  brilliant  exposition  of  Christianity 
as  the  intended  result  of  Hebrew  revelation  and  reli- 
gion. It  presents  it  as  the  completion  of  the  revela- 
tions which  God  had  spoken  "  by  divers  portions  and 
in  divers  manners  unto  the  fathers  in  the  prophets" 
(i.  1,  R.  v.),  and,  therefore,  as  the  perfect  and  perma- 
nent religion  of  mankind  (vi,  1 ;  xii.  28).  The  Chris- 
tian's life  of  faith  in  invisible  realities  is  also  shown  to 
be  the  perfect  form  of  the  true  religious  life  (xi.). 
Christianity  is  thus  the  historical  unfolding  of  Mosaism. 
The  latter  is  contemplated  as  a  revealed  system  of 
worship  designed  to  disclose  the  way  of  entering  into 
covenant  relation  with  God.  The  point  of  departure 
for  the  argument,  tlierefore,  is  the  ritual,  which  was, 
according  to  our  author,  a  direct  embodiment  of  Chris- 
tian truth  in  symbolic  form.  The  new  is  simply  the 
unveiling  of  the  old.     It  is  the  reality  implicated  and 


288  PROGRESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

emblemized  in  the  old.  In  it  the  Hebrew  may  see  the 
spiritual  truth  of  which  the  ritual  was  a  picture,  the 
real  pattern  of  which  Mosaism  was  a  copy  (viii.  5). 
Christianity  is,  therefore,  the  perfect  and  final  religion 
of  mankind.  This  presentation  of  the  matter  was  evi- 
dently the  needed  complement  of  Paul's  teaching, 
which  represented  the  contrast  between  salvation  by 
faith  and  by  works,  and  the  function  of  the  law  in 
creating  the  sense  of  guilt.  Both  representations  were 
true,  and  necessary  in  order  to  complete  the  transition 
from  the  old  to  the  new  dispensation. 

299.  The  argument  of  the  epistle  covers  the  whole 
ground.  It  begins  by  setting  forth  the  divine  dignity 
of  Christ  (i.  to  ii.  4),  and  meets  the  doubt  of  the  Jew 
caused  by  the  spectacle  of  the  Crucified  by  showing 
that  just  in  this  way  alone  could  Messiah  fulfil  the 
office  of  a  saviour  by  being  the  true  high-priest  of  his 
people  (ii.  5-18).  Jesus,  therefore,  occupies  a  far 
higher  position  than  Moses,  and  faith  in  him  is  not 
only  the  supreme  duty,  but  the  only  means  of  entering 
into  the  enjoyment  of  the  promises  of  God  (iii.  1  to  iv. 
13) .  This  high-priestly  work  of  Christ  is  then  presented 
in  detail  (iv.  14  to  vii.  28).  It  is  shown  that  the  Scrip- 
ture foretold  that  such  would  be  his  office,  then  that 
by  his  experience  on  earth  the  Lord  was  fitted  for  it, 
and  finally  that  his  ideal  priesthood  surpasses  and  does 
away  with  the  Levitical.  The  latter  appears  as  merely 
the  lingering  shadow  of  a  departed  order,  the  type  fall- 
ing before  the  reality.  The  author,  however,  did  not  stop 
here.  He  went  on  to  prove  (viii.  to  x.)  that  the  sacri- 
fice which,  Christ  offers  in  heaven  before  God  is  the 
only  perfect  one,  and  alone  provides  the  basis  for  the 
new  covenant  which  Jeremiah  had  predicted  and  under 


MOSAISM   COMPLETED  IN   CHRISTIANITY         289 

which  man  attains  actual  fellowship  with  God.  The 
ritual  did  but  emblemizc  his  work.  His  offering  is  per- 
fect and  its  effect  is  permanent.  Christianity  is  the 
final  and  perfect  religion  because  of  the  divinity  of  him 
who  has  revealed  it,  because  of  his  ideal  priestly  office, 
and  because  of  the  perfection  of  his  priestly  offering. 
The  condition,  therefore,  of  enjoying  the  benefit  of  sal- 
vation is  alone  faith  in  him,  and  this  the  author  pre- 
sents in  the  light  of  all  Hebrew  history  as  the  substance 
and  power  of  the  true  religious  life  (xi.,  xii.). 

300.  To  the  historian  the  value  of  this  immortal 
treatise  lies  in  its  disclosure  of  the  completeness  with 
which  the  founders  of  Christianity  apprehended  the 
relation  of  the  new  faith  to  its  antecedents  and  so  met 
the  problems  which  the  transition  from  Judaism  pro- 
duced. Here  the  permanent  religious  truths  of  the 
ritual  —  the  necessity  of  sacrifice  and  of  a  priestly 
mediation  —  were  transferred  to  Christianity,  while 
showing  that  the  forms  of  the  ritual  were  not  meant  to 
continue.  We  here  see  the  new  religion  disentangling 
itself  from  Judaism  without  losing  the  truth  which  the 
latter  contained.  The  epistle  was  written  when  the 
ritual  was  about  to  be  rendered  forever  impossible  by 
the  destruction  of  the  temple.  It  pointed  out  that  in 
its  destruction  the  religion  of  revelation  suffered  no 
loss.  It  thus  completed  the  interpretation  of  past 
revelation  in  the  light  of  present  history.  In  this 
"  word  of  exhortation  "  (xiii.  22)  the  religion  of  Closes 
bloomed  into  the  universal  religion  of  mankind,  of 
which  it  had  always  contained  the  seed. 


19 


IV 

EISE  OF   HISTORICAL  NARRATIVES 

301.  During  the  whole  period  of  the  rise  and  prog- 
ress of  Christianity  the  apostolic  reports  of  the  career 
and  teaching  of  Jesus  had  been  in  constant  circulation 
among  the  churches.  Apostolic  teaching  had  never 
been  disassociated  from  the  story  of  Christ's  life,  but 
was  regarded  as  only  the  inspired  amplification  of  his 
instruction  and  explanation  of  his  mission.  Hence  by 
"  the  gospel  "  was  meant  the  glad  tidings  which  God 
liad  sent  through  Jesus  and  his  apostles.  Jesus  had 
himself  begun  by  proclaiming  "  the  gospel  of  the  king- 
dom "  (e.  g.  Matt.  iv.  23  ;  Mark  i.  14, 15).  Later  he  had 
spoken  of  his  entire  message,  including  the  report  of 
his  life  and  acts,  as  "the  gospel"  (Mark  viii.  35;  x. 
29  ;  xiii.  10  ;  xiv.  9  ;  xiv.  15),  and  to  Mark  (i.  1)  this  was 
'^  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ "  which  the  Baptist's 
ministry  introduced.  After  Pentecost  this  was  natu- 
rally the  term  used  to  describe  the  revelation  contained 
in  the  history  and  teaching  of  Jesus  (Acts  xv.  7 ;  I. 
Thess.  i.  5  ;  ii.  2,  4,  8,  9 ;  iii.  2 ;  II.  Thess.  i.  8  ;  I.  Cor. 
iv.  15  ;  ix.  12,  14,  18,  23,  etc.)  which  the  apostles  pro- 
claimed. It  was  mainly  the  recital  of  his  works  and 
sayings,  his  death  and  resurrection  (Acts  i.  21,  22 ; 
ii.  22-24 ;  x.  37-43  ;  I.  Cor.  xv.  1  ;  Rom.  i.  1-4).  The 
term,  however,  also  came  to  include  the  apostolic  ex- 
planations of  Christ's  mission ;  and  this  usage  appears 


THE  ORAL  GOSPEL  291 

frequently  in  Paul  (Gal.  i.  7, 11 ;  ii.  2,  5,  7, 14 ;  II. 
Cor.  xi.  4  ;  Rom,  i.  16,  17  ;  ii.  16  ;  Acts  xxvi.  24 ;  Eph. 
i.  13 ;  iii.  6  ;  vi.  15,  19 ;  Phil.  i.  6,  7 ;  Col.  i.  5,  23  ;  I. 
Tim.  i.  11 ;  II.  Tim.  i.  10).  Yet  even  with  Paul  the 
doctrinal  aspect  was  not  confused  with  the  historical 
(Rom.  xvi.  25 ;  I.  Cor.  xi.  23 ;  xv.  1 ;  I.  Tim.  vi.  3  ; 
II.  Tim.  i.  8  ;  ii.  8} ;  and  when  historical  narratives  of 
the  Lord's  life  were  composed,  they  were,  at  least  in 
the  age  immediately  succeeding  the  apostolic,  called 
"  gospels." 

302.  At  first  the  circulation  of  the  reports  was  oral. 
It  is  evident,  however,  from  our  synoptics  that  the  re- 
ports tended  to  assume  more  and  more  fixity  of  form. 
This  was  the  natural  result  of  the  desire  to  impress 
them  on  the  disciples  by  repetition.  There  was  not, 
indeed,  at  first  any  apparent  intention  to  preserve  them 
in  documents.  But  the  incidents  were  repeated  and 
the  words  of  Jesus  were  reported  again  and  again, 
until  a  body  of  oral  narrative  existed  which  in  much 
the  same  language  was  diffused  throughout  the 
churches ;  while  at  tlie  same  time  some  incidents  did 
not  attain  the  same  wide  circulation  as  others,  and 
different  apostles  added  special  contributions  to  the 
common  stock.  This  current  narrative  dealt  mainly 
with  Christ's  public  ministry,  and  particularly  with 
that  in  Galilee,  where  Jesus  had  gathered  most  of  his 
disciples  and  had  founded  his  church,  and  with  the 
last  week  of  his  life.  It  related  both  his  works  and 
words,  selecting  such  incidents  as  were  felt  to  be  of 
special  religious  importance.  There  is  no  evidence 
that  it  dealt  solely  or  mainly  with  his  teaching.  On 
the  contrary,  while  his  words  were  remembered,  equal 
stress  was  laid  on  his  miracles  and  his  sufferings. 


292  PROGRESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

303.  In  time  the  need  became  apparent  of  putting 
the  narrative  into  permanent,  written  form.  The  first 
reference  to  this  is  found  in  the  opening  verses  of 
Luke's  gospel,  where  we  read  that  many  had  "  taken 
in  hand  to  draw  up  a  narrative  concerning  those  mat- 
ters wliich  have  been  fulfilled  among  us,  even  as  they 
delivered  them  unto  us  which  from  the  beginning  were 
eye  witnesses  and  ministers  of  the  word"  (I.  1, .2^ 
R.V.).  The  earliest  written  accounts  were  thus  the 
reproduction  of  the  apostolic  testimony.  They  appear 
from  Luke's  language  to  have  been  incomplete,  since 
he  emphasizes  the  relative  completeness  of  his  own 
work.  Out  of  the  same  motives,  however,  considering 
them  from  the  historical  point  of  view,  arose  our  first 
three  gospels.  They  appear  to  have  been  accepted  in 
the  churches  almost  at  once  as  possessing  apostolic 
authority.  We  find  them  with  John's,  in  the  first 
half  of  the  second  century,  the  recognized  gospels  of 
the  church.  Oral  tradition  of  course  lingered  by  their 
side.  Other  gospels,  usually  affected  by  some  peculiar 
motive,  arose  and  were  accepted  for  a  while  in  limited 
localities  (e.  g.  Gospel  according  to  the  Hebrews,  accord- 
ing to  the  Egyptians,  according  to  Peter,  etc.)-  But 
these  three,  to  which  John's  was  afterwards  joined, 
attained  authority  so  rapidly  in  the  churches  that  it 
is  plain  that  they  were  regarded  at  once  as  the  genuine 
embodiment  of  the  apostolic  reports.  About  the  same 
time  also  Luke  completed  his  gospel  by  the  Acts  (sect. 
280). 

304.  The  rise  of  this  historical  literature  discloses 
another  phase  of  apostolic  history.  It  shows  that 
primitive  Christianity  was  not  a  mere  ethical  or  theo- 
logical movement,  but  was  created  by  the  career  and 


THE  GOSPELS  APOSTOLIC  293 

teaching  of  Jesus,  and  never  lost  its  consciousness 
of  its  historical  origin.  The  large  amount  of  matter 
that  the  synoptic  gospels  have  in  common  illustrates 
the  universal  diffusion  throughout  the  churches  of 
substantially  the  same  narrative.  Yet  the  story  was 
repeated  with  various,  though  harmonious,  modifi- 
cations. In  Matthew's  gospel  Jesus  is  presented  as 
the  royal  Messiah  who  fulfilled  the  law  and  the 
prophets,  and  established  by  his  teaching  and  his 
redeeming  work  the  true  kingdom  of  God,  which  em- 
braces men  of  all  nations.  This  is  the  gospel  of  the 
Christianized  Jew.  In  Mark's,  Jesus  appears  rather 
as  the  mighty  conqueror,  the  Son  of  God,  revealing 
his  power,  and  yet  willingly  submitting  to  death  that  he 
might  rise  again.  In  Luke's,  we  have  the  Saviour  of 
the  world,  the  gracious  Son  of  man,  wonderful  in  his 
peerless  chariictei7'^^iTns5"'message  of  redemption  was 
glad  tidings  to  the  nations ;  while  in  the  Acts  the 
evangelist  carried  on  the  unfolding  of  Christianity  to 
its  establishment  as  a  non-Judaic,  universal  faith.  The 
point  to  be  observed  is  that  apostolic  Christianity  was 
historically  rooted  in  the  life  and  work  of  Jesus,  and 
that  his  significance  continued  to  be  a  subject  of  in- 
creasing interest  and  reflection.  It  was  the  message  of 
and  about  him  that  the  apostles  carried  throughout  the 
world,  on  which  the  faith  and  hope  of  the  primitive 
disciples  rested,  and  which  appealed  with  triumphant 
power  to  sinful,  waiting  humanity.  It  was  further  an 
opportune  fact  that  these  historical  books  were  pro- 
duced at  a  time  when  most  of  the  original  witnesses 
were  still  living  and  yet  when  their  departure  was  near. 
The  future  was  thus  provided  with  those  facts,  well 
attested,  on  which  it  would  ever  need  to  rest  its  faith. 


THE   JOHANNEAN  PERIOD 

305.  The  last  third  of  the  first  century  was  in  some 
respects  a  transitional  period  in  the  history  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  new  religion  had  become  firmly  estab- 
lished. It  was  everywhere  addressing  itself  to  the  task 
of  maintaining  the  integrity  of  its  belief  and  life  against 
the  hatred  or  seductions  of  the  world,  and  of  winning 
the  world  to  its  teachings.  It  had  thus  begun  the 
struggle  which  was  to  last  through  the  succeeding  cen- 
turies. Within  this  period  also  appeared  the  begin- 
nings of  those  sects  which  dissented  from  the  established 
faith  or  sought  to  combine  with  it  alien  elements  de- 
rived from  Judaism  or  paganism ;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  organization  of  the  churches,  at  least  in  some 
quarters,  advanced  toward  greater  centralization  of 
authority  and  compactness  of  form.  These  features  of 
the  church's  life  continued  to  unfold  in  the  post-apos- 
tolic age.  Christianity,  therefore,  was  already  entering 
on  the  development  and  conflict  to  which  as  a  world 
religion  she  was  destined.  At  the  same  time  the  apos- 
tolic age  had  not  closed.  All  the  elements  which 
historically  lay  at  the  foundation  of  subsequent  Chris- 
tianity had  not  yet  been  given.  This  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  during  this  period  are  to  be  located  the  last 
ministry  of  the  apostle  John  and  the  writings  which  he 
issued.     The  latter  entered  so   immediately  into  the 


CONTINUED   SPREAD   OF   CHRISTIANITY  295 

life  and  faith  of  the  church  that  they  plainly  consti- 
tuted part  of  its  foundation,  and,  together  with  the 
apostolic  office  of  their  author,  require  us  to  extend  the 
apostolic  age  practically  to  the  close  of  the  century. 

306.  During  this  period  Christianity  continued  to 
spread  rapidly.  Our  information  is  scanty,  but  there 
can  be  no  doubt  about  the  fact.  We  have  already  noted 
its  wide  diffusion  in  the  last  years  of  Paul  (sect.  262). 
That  it  entered  Egypt  with  much  power  is  proved  by  the 
remains  of  early  Christian  literature  in  that  land  from 
early  in  the  second  century.  There  is  also  reason  to 
believe  that  it  entered  Arabia  and  Parthia,  and  possibly 
India  as  well  as,  in  the  west,  Germany  and  Gaul.  It 
touched  Spain  and  perhaps  Britain ;  while  throughout 
the  central  parts  of  the  empire  it  had  its  adherents  in 
every  country.  The  language  of  the  Revelation  (e.  g. 
vii.  9)  implies  that  the  new  faith  included  representa- 
tives from  all  nations.  Clement  of  Rome  (a.  d.  96)  re- 
fers to  the  apostles  as  "  preaching  everywhere  in  city 
and  country."  Ignatius  (a.  d.  110)  writes  of  "  bishops 
settled  in  the  farthest  parts  [of  the  earth]."  Pliny, 
governor  of  Bithynia  and  Pontus  in  a.  d.  112,  found  the 
Christians  so  numerous  that  the  worship  of  the  temples 
had  severely  suffered.  It  is  probable  that  by  the  close 
of  the  century  companies  of  believers  existed  in  all  the 
larger  cities  and  many  of  the  smaller  towns  of  the  em- 
pire, and  that  the  new  religion  was  represented  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Indus,  and  from  Germany  to  Egypt 
and  Arabia.  Its  strength  lay  in  the  cities.  Early 
Christianity  is  known  to  us  mainly  by  the  names  of 
city  churches.  The  early  post-apostolic  letters,  like 
most  of  those  of  the  New  Testament,  were  addressed  to 
urban  communities.     In  the  Roman  world  the  city  was 


296  PROGRESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

the  mistress  of  its  sui-rounding  district ;  and  as  Paul 
wisely  chose  cities  for  the  sphere  of  his  labors,  so  do 
they  seem  to  have  been  generally  the  centres  of  the 
Christian  evangelism.  These  facts  enable  us  to  imagine 
the  activity  of  the  disciples  either  in  formal  missionary 
work  or  in  incidental  labors.  It  is  a  reasonable  esti- 
mate that  by  the  close  of  the  century  they  numbered  a 
hundred  thousand. 

307.  The  Christians  continued  to  attract  also  per- 
sons of  very  various  positions  in  life.  Undoubtedly  most 
of  them  still  belonged  to  the  humbler  classes  ;  but  there 
are  indications  that  people  of  wealth  and  occasionally 
some  of  high  social  standing  had  enrolled  themselves 
among  the  followers  of  Jesus.  Already  Paul  had 
found  it  necessary  to  warn  tlie  rich  against  the  love  of 
money  (I.  Tim.  vi.  9,  10,  17-19) ;  and,  much  later,  the 
church  at  Laodicea  was  reproved  for  trust  in  riches 
(Rev.  iii.  17).  Toward  the  close  of  Domitian's  reign, 
his  own  cousin.  Flavins  Clemens,  was  executed,  and 
the  latter's  wife,  Domitilla,  banished,  for  "  sacrilege  ;  " 
and  the  evidence  is  conclusive  that  they  were  really 
Christians  (Lightfoot,  Introd.  to  Clem,  of  R. ;  Ramsay, 
Ch.  in  the  Emp.  p.  259,  etc.).  The  Ccemeterium  Domi- 
tillce  was  one  of  the  earliest  Roman  catacombs,  and  by 
its  name  confirms  the  inference,  which  may  be  drawn 
from  the  vague  statements  of  secular  historians,  that 
Christianity  had  penetrated  into  the  imperial  family 
itself.  Such  instances,  no  doubt,  were  rare  ;  but  they 
warn  us  against  supposing  that  all  of  the  believers 
were  of  the  lower  orders.  The  fact,  also,  that  philo- 
sophic influences  tended,  as  we  shall  see,  to  corrupt  the 
faith  indicates  that  many  belonged  to  the  educated 
class. 


WORSHIP  AND  ORGANIZATION  297 

308.  The  worship  of  the  Christians  was  still  of  the 
simplest  kind.  The  first  day  of  the  week,  already 
called  "  the  Lord's  day  "  (Rev.  i.  lU),  was  the  one  for 
formal  gatherings.  Early  in  the  second  century  we 
find  its  observance,  rather  than  the  Jewish  Sabbath, 
noted  as  the  distinguishing  mark  of  the  Christian 
{Ignatius,  ad  Magn.  9).  Justin  Martyr's  description 
of  the  simple  service — the  reading  of"  the  memoirs  of 
the  apostles  and  the  writings  of  the  prophets,"  an  ex- 
hortation by  the  presiding  officer  and  the  celebration 
of  the  Eucharist  —  will  doubtless  apply  to  the  close 
of  the  first  century  as  well  as  to  fifty  years  later. 
Traces  of  the  beginnings  of  liturgies  and  of  Chris- 
tian hymns  may  indeed  be  found  in  Clement  of  Rome 
(a,  d.  96)  and  the  Teaching  of  the  Apostles  (a.  d.  100) ; 
the  latter  also  in  the  Pauline  epistles  themselves 
(Eph.  v.  19  ;  Col.  iv.  16  ;  I.  Tim.  iii.  16) ;  and  we  proba- 
bly should  conceive  of  the  public  worship  of  this  period 
as  in  a  state  of  transition  from  the  spontaneous  exer- 
cise of  spiritual  gifts,  such  as  is  described  in  Paul's 
epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  to  the  more  formal  service 
of  later  times.  But  it  was  still  a  simple  service.  The 
two  rites  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper  were  the 
only  obligatory  ceremonies.  The  latter  was  still  con- 
nected with  the  agape,  or  love  feast,  and  was  usually 
celebrated  in  the  evening.  The  meeting  places  must 
still  have  been  commonly  private  houses. 

309.  There  appears  also  to  have  been  advancing,  at 
least  in  some  quarters,  a  decided  modification  of  the 
organization  of  the  churches.  The  Christian  commu- 
nity in  each  locality  had  been  governed  originally  by 
a  body  of  equal  presbyter-bishops  after  the  model 
of  the  synagogue.     But  at  the  end  of  the  century  a 


298  PROGRESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

single  ruler  appears  in  the  churches  of  Asia  called  by 
pre-eminence  "  the  bishop."  Assisted  by  his  corps 
of  presbyters,  he  was  in  charge  of  the  administrative 
and  executive  work  of  the  church  (comp.  Ejip.  of  Ig- 
natius, and  perhaps  Rev.  ii.  1,  8,  etc.).  Since  in  the 
earlier  period  "bishop"  and  "presbyter"  denoted 
the  same  office,  the  later  form  of  arrangement  must 
have  developed  out  of  the  former  by  the  elevation  of 
one  to  the  position  of  permanent  president.  This 
centralizing  process  advanced,  however,  unequally  in 
different  places.  It  was  more  advanced  in  the  east 
than  in  the  west.  At  the  close  of  the  century  it  can 
be  affirmed  positively  only  of  the  churches  of  Asia. 
Yet  the  drift  toward  it  must  have  been  general.  It 
was,  in  fact,  a  natural  movement  in  the  interest  of  effi- 
ciency of  organization  and  unity  of  life.  The  church 
in  each  locality  constituted  one  body,  whether  it  had 
one  meeting  place  or  several.  Over  the  whole  the 
body  of  presbyters  had  presided ;  and  when  out  of 
their  number  a  permanent  "  bishop "  was  chosen,  he 
still  officiated  as  the  head  of  the  same  local  community. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  these  communities  were 
united  in  an  external  organization,  but  only  by  their 
common  faith  and  mutual  love  and  the  common  recog- 
nition of  apostolic  authority  (comp.  III.  John  10 ; 
Rev.  i.  11).  Neither  had  the  priestly  conception  been 
attached  to  the  governing  officials  ;  and  while  the  local 
ministry  of  rulers  and  teachers  and  deacons  existed 
everywhere,  there  were  also  travelling  missionaries 
and  evangelists,  who  went  from  place  to  place  bearing 
the  word  of  the  Lord  (III.  John  6,  7  ;  comp.,  too,  The 
Teach,  of  the  App.  xi.  -  xiii.).  The  condition  of 
affairs  was  thus  transitional  and  varied  ;  but  a  tendency 


SPREAD   OF   HERESY  299 

toward  increasing  compactness  of  organization  and 
toward  the  visible  expression  of  the  unity  of  the  several 
churches  in  the  person  of  a  single  chief  ruler  can  be 
plainly  discerned. 

310.  Of  the  causes  which  led  to  this,  one  of  the  most 
potent  was  the  spread  of  false  teaching  among  the 
churches.  This  was  certainly  the  motive  which  led 
Ignatius  (a.  d.  110)  to  emphasize  the  duty  of  loyalty  to 
the  established  officers  and  services  of  the  churches 
which  he  addressed.  The  existence  of  this  peril, 
which  had  already  appeared  in  the  time  of  Paul  and 
Peter,  is  evidenced  by  the  writings  of  John.  The 
fourth  gospel  was  written  confessedly  with  an  apolo- 
getic purpose  (xx.  30,  31)  ;  and  its  prologue  as  well  as 
its  general  contents  indicate  that  the  apostles  felt 
forced  to  proclaim  the  true  doctrine  of  the  divine- 
human  personality  of  Jesus.  His  epistles  contain  ref- 
erences to  the  same  class  of  errorists  (I.  John  ii.  18, 
19,  22  ;  iv.  1,  3 ;  v.  6  ;  II.  John  7,  9-11 ;  III.  John  4). 
The  "  Revelation "  denounces  other  false  teachers 
(ii.  2,  6,  14, 15,  20-24),  some  of  whom,  as  the  Nico- 
laitans,  appear  to  have  combined  gross  immorality  with 
their  erroneous  teaching.  We  know  also  from  later 
writers  tliat  toward  the  close  of  the  century  a  certain 
Cerinthus  came  from  Alexandria  to  Asia.  He  com- 
bined a  type  of  speculative  Judaism  with  Christianity. 
To  him  Jesus  was  a  man  on  whom  the  Spirit  of  the 
Christ  descended  at  his  baptism  and  left  him  l)cfore 
his  death.  His  theology  was  controlled  by  the  notion 
that  God  himself  cannot  come  into  immediate  contact 
with  matter.  Hence  intermediate  beings  were  necessary 
to  account  for  the  origin  and  government  of  the  world ; 
and  the  idea  of  a  real  incarnation  and  of  redemption 


300  PROGRESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

by  sacrifice  vanished  in  the  speculations  of  philosophy. 
This  was  one  of  the  earliest  forms  of  gnosticism ; 
and  it  is  not  improbable  that  some  of  John's  expres- 
sions were  directed  specifically  against  this  teaching 
(e.g.  I.  John  ii.  22;  iv.  2  ;  v.  6).  On  the  other  hand 
sections  of  the  Jewish  Christians  who  survived  the  fall 
of  Jerusalem  drifted  into  settled  antagonism  to  the 
established  Gentile  Christianity.  In  some  cases  their 
Judaism  was  more  potent  than  their  Christianity,  so 
that  the  latter  became  little  more  than  nominal. 
They  considered  Jesus  as  only  a  man,  and  continued  to 
regard  the  Mosaic  law  as  necessary.  They  were  after- 
wards known  as  Ebionites.  Others  of  the  Jewish 
Christians  did  not  relapse  so  far,  but  still  kept  aloof 
from  the  established  Gentile  churches ;  while  still 
others  strove  to  introduce  eclectic  combinations  of 
Jewish  or  Christian  ideas,  or  both  of  these,  with 
philosophic  elements.  Thus  Christianity  was  being 
seriously  threatened  in  her  beliefs,  and  the  fact  natu- 
rally led  her  leaders  to  emphasize  the  duty  of  fidelity 
to  the  existing  organizations  and  to  their  authorized 
teachers. 

311.  On  the  other  hand  they  fejt  with  increasing 
force  the  universal  enmity  of  the  outside  world.  In 
fact  the  new  religion  now  stood  face  to  face  with  a 
hostile  society  and  a  frowning  empire.  Two  great 
events  had  helped  to  produce  this  situation.  The  fall 
of  Jerusalem  (a.  d.  70)  had  finally  destroyed  the  cradle 
of  the  faith.  There  could  no  longer  be  a  double 
Christianity,  a  Judaic  and  a  Gentile.  It  was  Gentile 
alone.  Most  of  the  Jewish  Christians  merged  into  the 
Gentile  churches,  while  those  who  remained  outside 
dwindled,   as    observed    above,   into    dissenting    and 


HOSTILITY  OF  THE  EMriRE  301 

heretical  sects.  Christianity  thus  became  completely 
separated  from  Judaism,  and,  as  a  religion  without  a 
country,  was  forced  to  her  world-mission.  Then,  fur- 
ther, Nero's  persecution  had  placed  the  ban  of  the 
empire  on  the  Christians  in  distinction  from  the  Jews. 
His  policy  was  continued  by  the  Flavian  emperors ; 
and,  though  we  have  no  record  of  further  persecution 
until  the  reign  of  Domitian,  there  is  little  ground  for 
doubt  that  Christianity  was  officially  regarded  as 
illegal  {Ramsay^  Ch.  in  the  Emp.  ch.  xii.).  In  the 
later  years  of  Domitian  actual  and  violent  persecution 
was  waged.  The  emperor  suspected  that  Christianity 
was  a  treasonable  movement,  and  in  both  Rome  and 
the  provinces  many  were  imprisoned  or  slain.  The 
attitude  of  the  government  could  indeed  hardly  have 
been  different,  so  soon  as  Christianity  was  distin- 
guished from  Judaism.  No  religion  was  tolerated  by 
Roman  law  which  was  not  that  of  a  subject  nation ; 
and,  under  the  empire,  societies  of  all  kinds  were 
regarded  as  dangerous  to  the  state  and  allowed  only 
under  special  licenses.  Meanwhile  popular  hatred  was 
increasing  on  account  of  the  refusal  of  the  Christians 
to  recognize  the  pagan  gods  and  to  worship  the 
emperor,  a  refusal  which  seemed  sure  proof  of  atheism 
and  disloyalty.  This  gave  plausibility  also  to  the 
vulgar  rumors  that  they  were  immoral  and  inhuman. 
Popular  hatred  thus  supported  governmental  oppres- 
sion. It  was  evident  that  Christianity  had  truly 
entered  on  a  world-conflict.  The  fact  at  once  intensi- 
fied its  consciousness  of  its  mission  and  the  need  of 
unity  for  the  struggle.  This  is  illustrated  by  the  an- 
tithesis between  Christianity  and  the  world  which 
appears  constantly  in  the  writings  of  John. 


302  PROGRESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

312.  Finally,  with  this  widened  environment,  Chris- 
tianity naturally  felt  as  never  before  the  influence  of 
the  intellectual,  social,  and  political  ideas  which  were 
current  in  the  empire.  As  already  remarked,  heresies 
of  an  eclectic  character  began  to  appear.  These,  how- 
ever, were  but  special  manifestations  of  the  larger  fact 
that  the  new  religion  was  exposed  to  the  subtle 
operation  of  the  forces  dominant  about  her,  and  which 
threatened  to  impair  her  independence  and  integrity. 
It  was  pre-eminently  an  eclectic  age  ;  and  Christianity 
was  possessed  of  so  much  moral  and  intellectual  vigor 
that  she  easily  formed  a  new  centre  about  which  ideas 
gathered  which  were  alien  to  her  nature  and  detri- 
mental to  her  proper  progress.  In  the  next  century 
we  find  her  heavily  weighted  by  notions  derived  from 
pagan  or  Alexandrian  systems,  and  affected  by  the 
institutions  of  Greek  or  Roman  society.  These  influ- 
ences doubtless  began  to  operate  before  the  apostolic 
age  had  closed.  Many  of  the  Gentile  converts  must 
have  failed  to  understand  the  Hebrew  presuppositions 
upon  which  the  new  religion  rested.  A  new  class  of 
problems  were  necessarily  suggested  by  contact  and 
conflict  with  universal  paganism.  Current  philosoph- 
ical and  social  ideas  had  to  be  met  and  mastered. 
Christianity  was  now  grappling  with  the  whole  world- 
problem,  and  needed  to  understand  herself  and  her 
mission  in  the  light  of  the  enlarged  sphere  in  which 
her  subsequent  history  was  to  be  enacted.  It  is  this 
situation  which  gives  historical  interest  to  the  writings 
of  the  apostle  John. 

313.  Nothing  is  related  in  the  New  Testament  of  the 
life  of  John,  after  the  council  at  Jerusalem  (Gal.  ii.  9), 
until  we  find  him  on  the  island  of  Patmos,  an  exile  for 


JOHN  AT  EPHESUS  303 

his  faith  (Rev.  i.  9),  and  addressing  the  "  Revelation  " 
to  the  seven  churches  of  Asia.  So  far  as  it  goes,  how- 
ever, this  evidence  agrees  with  the  tradition  that  he 
passed  the  last  years  of  his  life  in  Ephesus,  was  thence 
banished  to  Patmos  by  Domitian,  returned  to  Ephesus 
after  the  emperor's  death,  and  survived  till  the  time  of 
Trajan  (a.  d.  98).  The  tradition  was  early  and  wide- 
spread. It  was  also  direct,  for  it  is  most  explicitly 
stated  by  Ireneeus,  whose  teacher,  Polycarp  of  Smyrna, 
was  a  disciple  of  John.  The  banishment  to  Patmos 
was  assigned  by  most  other  authorities  also  to  the  time 
of  Domitian  ;  and  it  is  quite  impossible  to  conceive  of 
the  advanced  condition  of  the  Asian  churches,  described 
in  Revelation,  as  existing  under  an  earlier  emperor. 
We  cannot  say  definitely  when  John  left  Jerusalem. 
It  is  perhaps  the  most  probable  view  that  he  remained 
in  Palestine  until  the  approach  of  the  war  with  Rome. 
It  may  be,  however,  that  he  had  gone  elsewhere  before 
that  time.  Certainly  he  is  not  mentioned  in  connection 
with  Paul's  last  visit  to  Jerusalem  (Acts  xxi.  18). 
Since,  also,  no  reference  to  him  occurs  in  the  pastoral 
epistles  nor  in  those  of  Peter,  we  may  believe  that  he 
did  not  settle  in  Asia  until  after  a.  d.  70. 

314.  It  is  not  surprising  that  John  selected  Ephesus 
for  his  last  residence,  in  view  of  the  importance  of  that 
city  and  the  influence  which  the  Ephcsian  church  had 
exercised  from  the  beginning  of  its  history  (sect.  211). 
There  he  was  in  the  very  centre  of  eastern  Christianity. 
That  he  wielded  great  influence  is  attested  not  only  by 
tradition,  but  by  the  authoritative  tone  of  his  writings 
(c.  g.  John  xxi.  24  ;  I.  John  i.  1-3  ;  ii.  24 ;  iv.  26  ;  v.  13  ; 
Rev.  i.  1-3)  and  their  immediate  circulation  in  the 
churches.     He  was  not,  indeed,  the  only  one  in  that 


304  PROGRESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

region  who  had  been  a  personal  disciple  of  Jesus. 
Early  tradition  relates  that  at  one  time  Andrew  was 
there  with  him  ;  and  not  far  off,  in  Phrygian  Hiera- 
polis,  lived  Philip,  though  the  notices  of  the  latter  seem 
to  confuse  the  apostle  and  the  evangelist  of  that  name. 
There  was  also  at  Ephesus  a  certain  Aristion,  who  ap- 
pears to  have  been  an  aged  and  venerated  disciple  ; 
and  around  the  apostle  there  seems  to  have  gathered  a 
circle  of  prominent  Christians,  some  of  whom  probably 
had  long  been  believers.  But  it  was  John  who  left  the 
chief  mark  on  the  place  and  time.  Interesting  stories 
concerning  his  life  and  personality  floated  down  the 
stream  of  tradition.  We  are  on  sure  ground,  however, 
only  when  we  interpret  his  own  writings. 

315.  The  fourth  gospel  had  for  its  avowed  purpose 
to  prove  "  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ  the  Son  of  God  ;  and 
that  believing  ye  may  have  life  in  his  name  '■  (xx.  31, 
R.  v.).  It  does  this  by  giving  certain  discourses  of  Jesus 
not  found  in  the  synoptics,  in  which  the  Lord  bore  wit- 
ness to  his  unique  relation  to  God,  the  world,  and  his 
disciples.  The  apostle  also  gives  a  number  of  historical 
incidents,  bearing  on  the  same  theme,  at  most  of  which 
he  had  himself  been  present.  We  are  concerned,  how- 
ever, only  to  note  the  light  thrown  by  this  work  on 
the  last  years  of  the  apostolic  age.  Its  prologue  gives 
the  key  to  the  situation.  Here  Jesus  is  presented  as 
the  incarnation  of  the  divine  Logos  (Word)  of  God. 
This  indicates  that  the  author  was  confronted  by  spec- 
ulative theories  concerning  the  person  of  Christ  which 
he  felt  it  necessary  to  refute.  The  term  "  Logos  " 
had  both  a  Hebrew  and  a  Greek  pedigree,  and  would  be 
recognized  both  by  Jew  and  Gentile,  and  especially  by 
those  touched  by  the  eclecticism  of  Alexandria,  as  a 


THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL  305 

fit  phrase  by  which  to  describe  the  founder  of  Chris- 
tianity as  the  personal  and  perfect  revelation  of  God 
(comp.  art.  Logos,  Hastings'  Diet,  of  B.).  The  apostle, 
however,  did  not  subordinate  his  teaching  to  current 
philosophic  notions.  In  his  description  of  the  Logos 
he  only  repeated  ideas  which  had  been  taught  in  other 
terms  by  earlier  Christian  teachers  (see  e.  g.  Col.  i.  13- 
20  ;  ii.  9  ;  Phil.  ii.  5-11 ;  Heb.  i.  2-4).  He  united  this 
teaching  into  one  great  representation,  in  which,  start- 
ing with  the  eternal  personality  and  divinity  of  the 
Logos,  he  traced  his  revelation  of  God  in  nature,  in 
humanity,  and  finally  in  the  incarnation.  Of  this 
theme  the  gospel  which  followed  was  intended  to  be 
the  proof.  Thus  John  showed  that  because  of  his  real 
divinity  Jesus  was  the  perfect  revelation  of  God  ;  and 
further,  that  his  incarnation  was  the  crown  of  that 
manifestation  of  God  which  from  the  beginning  of  time 
he  had  been  making  throughout  the  universe.  It  was 
through  him  alone  that  men  had  ever  known  God 
at  all ;  and  in  his  coming  in  the  flesh  and  in  the  re- 
ligion which  he  had  thus  established,  the  final  and  com- 
plete disclosure  of  God,  truth  and  duty  had  been 
effected.  It  must  be  evident  that  the  publication  of 
this  conception  of  Christ  and  of  Christianity  marks  the 
highest  point  possible  in  the  claim  which  the  new  reli- 
gion could  make  for  itself  ;  that  thus  it  was  prepared, 
as  the  only  true  religion,  to  demand  acceptance  by  all 
mankind.  Whatever  of  truth  or  duty  might  exist  else- 
where found  its  synthesis  in  the  personal  revelation  of 
the  divine  Word  himself. 

316.  The  First  Epistle  of  John  stands  in  close  con- 
nection with  his  gospel.  It  is  in  fact  intelligible  only 
to  readers  of  the  gospel,  and  was  probably  issued  with 

20 


306  PROGRESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

or  shortly  after  it.  It  is  the  application  to  Christian 
life  of  the  conception  of  Christianity  as  the  perfect 
revelation  of  God.  It  was  written,  the  apostle  says,  on 
the  basis  of  that  manifestation  of  Life,  contained  in 
the  incarnation  of  the  Logos,  which  the  apostles  by 
their  association  with  Jesus  were  qualified  to  declare 
(i.  1-4).  In  the  revelation  of  God  as  light,  i.  e.  as  the 
embodiment  of  rational  and  moral  truth,  is  to  be  found 
the  determining  factor  of  Christian  knowledge  and 
life  (i.  6  to  ii.  6),  whereby  the  believer  is  necessarily  sep- 
arated from  the  world  and  error  (ii.  7-27).  Since,  also, 
the  fulness  of  this  truth  and  life  will  be  manifested  at 
the  second  coming  of  Christ,  it  is  necessary  that  the 
sons  of  God  should  show  righteousness,  which  is  the 
evidence  of  sonship,  by  obedience  and  love  (ii.  28  to 
iii.  24) ;  and  the  proof  that  they  possess  the  divine 
Spirit  is  their  true  confession  of  Christ,  adherence  to 
revealed  teaching,  and  the  love  which  is  the  soul's  re- 
sponse to  Him  who  is  in  his  own  nature  Love  (iv.).  We 
are  next  reminded  that  faith  in  the  revealed  Christ  is  the 
condition  of  the  whole  spiritual  life  wherein  the  world 
is  overcome  (v.  1-12) ;  and  the  epistle  closes  with  a 
statement  of  its  purpose  —  "  that  ye  may  know  that  ye 
have  eternal  life,  ye  that  believe  in  the  name  of  the 
Son  of  God  "  (v.  13,  R.  V. ;  comp.  John  xx.  31)  —  and 
with  a  summary  of  the  certitudes,  given  in  Christian 
experience,  whereby  we  may  rest  confidently  in  the 
faith  which  led  to  them.  Even  this  general  outline  of 
the  epistle  shows  that  to  John  Christianity  was  the  abso- 
lute revelation  of  God  and  the  establishment  in  the 
soul  of  the  genuine  life  in  and  with  God.  Thus  its 
universality  appeared  in  its  absoluteness.  With  Paul 
its  universality  had  appeared  in  its  unlimited   scope 


EPISTLES  OF  JOHN  307 

and  applicability  ;  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  in  its 
being  the  final  goal  of  Hebrew  revelation ;  with  Peter, 
in  its  fulfilment  of  the  prophetic  hope  of  Israel ;  but  to 
John,  in  its  being  the  perfect  revelation  of  the  reli- 
gious realities,  of  the  idea  of  religion  itself.  The  apostle 
by  no  means  resolved  it  into  a  speculative  system.  He 
remained  true  to  the  historial  facts.  But  the  profound 
significance  of  the  facts  had  unfolded  in  accordance  with 
the  historical  situation ;  and  when  Christianity  found 
itself  confronted  by  the  world,  it  asserted  itself  in  the 
writings  of  John  to  be,  from  its  very  nature  and  be- 
cause of  the  person  of  its  Founder,  the  world's  only 
real  religion. 

317.  The  Second  and  Third  Epistles  of  John  throw 
interesting  light  on  the  apostle's  care  of  the  churches. 
They  are  unmistakably  Johannean,  though  the  writer, 
quite  in  accord  with  his  reserve  in  the  gospel  and  first 
epistle,  calls  himself  simply  "  the  elder."  The  second 
epistle  was  addressed  "to  the  elect  lady  and  her  chil- 
dren," by  which  we  probably  should  understand  a 
church  rather  than  an  individual,  because  of  the  fol- 
lowing reference  to  "  certain  "  of  her  children  (4,  R.  V.) 
and  to  the  directions  against  false  doctrine  (7-11).  It 
is  a  brief  note,  perhaps  carried  back  by  some  of  the 
members  of  the  church  who  had  been  at  Ephesus  (4), 
urging  to  a  life  of  love  and  warning  against  the  same 
class  of  false  teachers  mentioned  in  the  first  epistle 
(comp.  II.  John  7  and  I.  John  ii.  18,  22 ;  iv.  2).  The 
true  Christian,  he  says,  will  abide  in  the  teaching  of 
Christ  (9),  and  the  errorist  should  by  no  means  be 
received  to  the  church's  hospitality  (10).  The  third 
epistle  is  still  more  illustrative  of  the  times.  It  was 
addressed   to   Gains,   a  prominent    member   of  some 


308  PROGRESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

church,  commending  certain  missionaries  on  their  way 
to  another  place,  of  whom  Demetrius,  who  is  specially 
commended  (12),  was  probably  one.  We  also  learn 
that  in  the  church  to  which  Gains  belonged  a  certain 
Diotrephes  had  refused  to  receive  missionaries  sent  by 
John  with  a  previous  letter,  and  had  expelled  those  who 
did  receive  them.  Diotrephes  was  doubtless  a  presby- 
ter, possibly  a  presiding  bishop ;  but  his  power  was 
apparently  more  personal  than  official  (9).  In  both 
letters  John  expressed  the  hope  of  visiting  his  corre- 
spondents shortly ;  and  against  Diotrephes  he  threatened 
the  summary  exercise  of  apostolic  authority.  We  thus 
see  the  apostle's  vigorous  oversight  of  the  churches,  as 
well  as  the  factious  and  false  teaching  against  which 
he  had  to  contend.  The  allusion  to  travelling  mission, 
aries  shows  also  the  efforts  made  to  propagate  the 
faith.  In  the  Teaching  of  the  Apostles  (a.  d.  100)  we 
read  of  similar  evangelists,  there  called  apostles  and 
prophets.  The  enthusiasm  of  missions  was  in  fact  so 
great  that  it  was  necessary  to  test  the  teaching  and 
character  of  these  itinerants,  since  false  emissaries 
caught  the  zeal  and  divided  the  work.  We  can  thus 
realize  the  practical  difficulties  of  the  times,  even  as 
John's  larger  works  illustrate  the  greater  problems  of 
thought  and  life  with  which  he  dealt. 

318.  Finally,  in  the  Revelation  we  are  introduced  to 
an  entirely  different  kind  of  literature  from  any  yet 
brought  before  us.  Apocalyptic  books  were  not  strange 
in  those  days.  Later  Judaism,  moved  by  the  still 
earlier  Book  of  Daniel,  produced  a  number  of  such 
works.  Their  authors,  however,  generally  imputed 
them,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Book  of  Enoch  and  the 
Assumption  of  Moses,  to  some  one  of  the  older  patri- 


THE  APOCALYPSE  309 

archs.  These  books  excited  a  powerful  influence  on 
the  thought  and  hopes  of  the  Jewish  people  (see  Schiirer^ 
HJP.  II.,  III. ;  Biggs,  Hist,  of  Jew.  People,  sects.  6, 
157).  Their  characteristic  was  the  representation  of 
ideas  or  of  future  events  by  symbolic  figures  or  actions. 
It  was  a  favorite  form  of  literature  and  adapted  to 
times  of  storm  and  stress.  The  wonder  is  that  Chris- 
tianity did  not  produce  more  such  works ;  and  it  is  a 
testimony  to  the  truly  prophetic  character  of  John  that 
he  did  not,  like  the  Jewish  writers,  attach  his  apocalypse 
to  the  name  of  an  older  prophet,  but  issued  it  in  his 
own  name. 

319.  This  book  describes  itself  as  Christ's  revela- 
tion of  the  future  communicated  symbolically  to  John 
(i.  1-3).  It  is  addressed  to  seven  churches  of  Asia 
(i.  4-6),  and  its  general  subject  is  the  coming  of 
Christ  to  judgment  on  the  enemies  of  God  and  for  the 
salvation  of  his  people.  It  consists  of  seven  visions  or 
series  of  visions,  which '  represent  as  many  aspects  of 
the  triumph  of  the  enthroned  Lord.  We  are  again 
concerned  only  to  note  its  bearing  on  the  mind  and 
situation  of  the  church.  The  opening  messages  to  the 
churches  furnish  some  interesting  facts.  Five  of  these 
churches  are  here  mentioned  for  the  first  time ;  yet 
evidently  they  had  all  been  long  established.  That  of 
Ephesus  still  appears  as  the  foremost  in  the  whole 
province  ;  and  the  references  to  various  types  of  heresy 
(ii.  6,  14,  15,  20-24),  to  persecution  (ii.  10,  13 ;  iii.  10), 
to  the  enmity  of  the  Jews  (ii.  9  ;  iii.  9),  together  with 
the  careful  discrimination  of  the  spiritual  conditions 
of  the  several  communities,  give  a  graphic  picture  of 
the  situation  which  existed  in  Asia.  Taking  the  book 
as  a  whole,  it  is  evident  that  the  return  of  Christ  was 


310  PROGRESS   OF  CHRISTIANITY 

still  the  church's  hope.  It  was  not  conceived,  however, 
as  an  isolated  event.  It  was,  in  fact,  inclusive  of  a 
large  and  varied  series  of  events  which  would  lead  up 
to  it.  All  these  were  regarded  as  the  appointed  un- 
folding of  God's  decree,  and  over  the  whole  process  the 
enthroned  Redeemer-King  is  himself  presiding.  That 
process  would  consist  in  Christ's  progressive  triumph, 
partly  by  proclamation  of  the  gospel  and  partly  by 
judgment  on  a  wicked  world.  The  latter  aspect  is 
very  prominent,  as  was  natural  in  a  time  of  the  church's 
feebleness  and  distress.  The  future  was  expected  also 
to  be  a  period  of  conflict.  The  power  of  evil  would  be 
arrayed  against  the  church,  and  deadly  apostasy  would 
arise  within  her.  Yet  the  redeemed  people  of  God 
would  be  safe  ;  their  prayers  for  succor  would  be  an- 
swered ;  their  final  salvation  was  secure.  And  this 
not  only  for  them  as  individuals.  The  book  contem- 
plates the  conflicts,  perils,  and  final  establishment  of 
the  church  as  a  body.  The  seven  churches  of  Asia 
were  representative  of  the  church  universal,  and  the 
new  Jerusalem  was  the  visible  embodiment  of  her 
ideal  state.  All  this  is  depicted  by  means  of  sym- 
bols which  denote  principles  and  ideas  rather  than 
special  individuals. 

320.  Thus  in  Revelation,  as  in  John's  gospel  and 
first  epistle,  the  consciousness  of  a  world-conflict,  a 
world-process,  and  a  world-triumph  is  manifest.  The 
return  of  Jesus  is  contemplated  in  relation  to  the 
enlarged  environment  in  which  Christianity  stood. 
Revelation  testifies  to  the  persistence  of  the  hope  with 
which  Christianity  had  begun,  but  also  to  the  fact 
that  into  that  hope  had  entered  the  fuller  conception 
of   Clirist  and  his   salvation  which  the   apostles   had 


CLOSE  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE       311 

taught,  and  the  broadened  vision  of  the  purpose  of  God 
which  the  history  had  made  clear.  Yet  it  was  still 
the  same  hope,  "  Behold,  he  cometh  "  (Rev.  i.  7)  ;  and 
the  prayer  was  still  the  same,  "  Come,  Lord  Jesus  " 
(Rev.  xxii.  20). 

321.  With  the  Johannean  literature  the  apostolic 
age  closed.  It  is  true,  as  already  observed,  that  the 
last  part  of  the  century  was  transitional ;  and  we  have 
at  least  one  production,  nearly  contemporaneous  with 
Revelation,  which  really  belongs  to  the  post-apostolic 
period.  This  is  the  epistle  of  Clement,  written  in 
the  name  of  the  church  at  Rome  to  that  at  Corinth 
(a.  d.  96).  The  pseudo-epistle  of  Barnabas  and  the 
Teaching  of  the  Apostles  have  also  been  dated  by  some 
scholars,  but  with  less  probability,  in  the  first  century. 
But  the  student  of  early  Christian  literature  must 
recognize  that  these  works  are  on  a  lower  level,  that 
their  authors  were  sensible  of  dependence  on  those  of 
the  apostolic  age,  and  that  with  them  we  pass  out  of  the 
originative  period  of  Christianity.  In  the  writings  of 
John  the  foundation  of  the  new  religion  was  completed. 
It  would  be  erroneous,  indeed,  to  imagine  that  all  or 
even  most  of  the  converts  fully  appropriated  the  teach- 
ings of  the  founders  of  the  church.  The  literary 
remains  of  the  next  generation  show  that  the  church 
failed  to  grasp  many  of  the  doctrines  taught  in  the 
former  age ;  and  the  progress  of  subsequent  Christi- 
anity, viewed  internally,  often  reveals  a  slow  and 
inadequate  apprehension  of  the  apostolic  faith.  This, 
however,  only  illustrates  the  unique  and  fundamental 
character  of  the  apostolic  instruction  itself.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  historian  must  perceive  that  the  literature  of 


312  PROGRESS   OF  CHRISTIANITY 

the  apostolic  period  combines  with  the  historical  move- 
ment, in  which  the  original  faith  in  Jesus  as  Messiah 
unfolded  its  content  and  expanded  the  area  of  its  influ- 
ence, to  present  an  intellectual  and  moral  unity  which 
was  plainly  the  work  of  one  Spirit,  completing  har- 
moniously the  presentation  to  men  of  the  mission  and 
message  of  Jesus,  and  thus  providing  a  foundation  on 
which  subsequent  Christianity  was  intended  to  build. 
It  is  the  fact  of  this  unity  which  gives  its  supreme 
importance  to  the  history  of  the  apostolic  age,  for  it 
certifies  that  apostolic  Christianity  was  the  normal  and 
authoritative  exposition  of  the  religion  of  Jesus. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 

CHRONOLOGY   OF   THE  APOSTOLIC   AGE 

322.  The  chronology  of  the  apostolic  age  must  be  ob- 
tained chiefly  from  the  book  of  Acts.  While,  however,  that 
book  makes  clear  the  relative  chronology  of  most  of  its 
events,  there  are  but  few  of  them  whose  absolute  dates  can 
be  determined.  We  must  obtain  the  fixed  points  which 
are  ascertainable,  compute  other  events  from  them,  and 
always  remember  that  the  results  in  most  cases  are  only 
approximate  or  probable. 

323.  The  most  certain  date  is  that  of  the  death  of 
Herod  Agrippa  I.  (Acts  xii).  Josephus  {B.  J.,  II.  xi.  6; 
Antiq.,  xviii.  iv.  6,  vi.  10,  vii.  2 ;  xix.  vi.  1,  viii.  2)  shows 
that  Agrippa  Avas  appointed  king  of  all  Palestine  on  the 
accession  of  Claudius  to  the  empire  (Jan.  a.d.  41),  and 
that  he  reigned  over  this  territory  three  years.  The 
alleged  existence  of  coins  of  his  ninth  year  may  be  ex- 
plained by  the  fact  that  he  was  given,  with  the  title  of 
king,  the  tetrarchy  of  Herod  Philip  by  Caligula  soon 
after  the  death  of  Tiberius  (Mar.  a.d.  37),  and  doubtless 
began  to  reckon  the  second  year  of  his  reign  with  Nisan 
of  that  year  (Comp.  Turner,  Hast.  D.  of  B.  vol.  I.  p.  410). 
His  death  therefore  may  be  assigned  confidently  to  a.d. 
44  and  (Acts  xii.  3)  subsequent  to  the  passover. 

324.  Again,  the  death  of  Christ,  and  hence  the  day  of 
Pentecost  on  which  Christianity  was  inaugurated,  occurred 
in  A.D.  29  or  30.  The  choice  certainly  lies  between  these 
two  years  (Rhees,  L.  J.,  sect.  50).  For  reasons  which  can- 
not be  given  here  we  accept  a.d.  30;  but,  since  Christ's 


316  APPENDIX 

ministry  may  have  been  two  and  a  quarter  years  in  length, 
or  may  have  begun  in  a.d.  26,  the  year  29  for  his  death 
cannot  be  positively  excluded. 

325.  The  date  of  the  accession  of  Festus  as  procurator 
of  Judea  (Acts  xxv.  1)  is  less  certain.  This  event  has 
commonly  been  assigned  to  a.d.  60  (see  Scfmrer,  HJP. 
Div.  I.,  II.  p.  182  note).  Felix  had  been  appointed  pro- 
curator by  Claudius  on  the  deposition  of  Cumanus  in  a.d. 
52  or  53  and  was  reappointed  by  Nero  (Jos.  B.  J.  II.  xiii. 
2).  Josephus  (B.  J.  II.  xii.  8-xiv.  1)  relates  nearly  all 
the  events  in  which  Felix  was  concerned  as  if  they 
occurred  under  ISTero,  whose  reign  began  Oct.  13,  a.d.  54. 
Hence  Felix  must  have  been  in  office  some  years  after 
A.D.  54.  Since,  moreover,  Paul  (Acts  xxiv.  10,  27)  refers 
to  Felix  as  having  been  many  years  in  office,  the  apostle's 
arrest  can  hardly  have  been  before  a.d.  58,  which  puts 
the  accession  of  Festus,  two  years  after,  in  a.d.  60.  It 
cannot  well  be  placed  later,  since  Albinus,  the  successor 
of  Festus,  was  already  procurator  in  a.d.  62  {Jos.  B.  J. 
VI.  V.  3),  and  the  events  recorded  under  Festus  require 
more  than  a  year.  The  probabilities  therefore  point  to 
A.D.  60  as  that  of  Festus'  accession  to  office. 

326.  Every  point  of  this  calculation  is  indeed  open  to 
dispute,  and  the  tendency  of  many  recent  scholars  has 
been  wholly  to  deny  its  result.  Thus  it  is  observed  that 
Tacitus  (Ann.  xii.  54)  states  that  Felix  had  previously 
ruled  in  Samaria  while  Cumanus  ruled  in  Galilee,  and 
though  he  does  not  say  which  of  the  two  at  that  time 
ruled  in  Judea,  his  statement  has  been  thought  to  prove 
that  the  residence  of  Felix  in  Palestine  began  so  much 
earlier  than  has  been  commonly  assumed  that  Paul's 
language  might  have  been  spoken  several  years  before 
A.D.  58.  But  against  this  must  be  placed  the  narrative  of 
Josephus,  which,  though  consistent  with  the  supposition 
that  Felix  had  held  a  subordinate  position  in  Samaria, 
knows  nothing  of  a  contemporaneous  procuratorship  of 
the  two  men,  and  assigns,  as  already  noted,  most  of  the 


APPENDIX  317 

events  under  Felix  to  the  reign  of  iSTero.  The  Jewish 
historian  on  this  point  would  seem  more  trustworthy 
than  the  Koman. 

327.  Again,  the  Chronicon  of  Eusebius  dates  the  ap- 
pointment of  Felix  in  the  10th  or  11th  year  of  Claudius 
(=  A.D.  50-51,  or  51-52)  and  the  accession  of  Festus  in  the 
second  year  of  Nero  (=  a.d.  55-56).  Harnack  (Chrotiol. 
p.  235)  and  others  think  that  the  Chronicon  was  based 
on  earlier  chronologists  and  is  fairly  trustworthy.  But 
these  dates  compel  the  assignment  of  events  related  in  the 
former  part  of  Acts  to  years  which  are  certainly  too  early 
(see  sects.  328,  334  ;  also  Turner,  Hastings'  D.  of  B.  pp. 
418,  419).  The  Eusebian  date  has  indeed  been  supported 
by  the  statement  of  Josephus  (Antiq.,  xx.  viii.  9)  that 
when  Felix,  after  his  recall  to  Rome,  was  accused  by 
the  Jews,  he  was  acquitted  through  the  influence  of  his 
brother  Pallas,  "  who  was  at  that  time  had  in  the  greatest 
honor  by  (ISTero)."  Now  Pallas  was  dismissed  from  office 
in  Feb.  a.d.  55.  Hence  it  has  been  inferred  that  Felix  was 
recalled  soon  after  Nero's  accession  in  a.d.  54.  Yet  this 
argument  is  vitiated  by  the  difficulty  of  believing  that, 
if  Felix  was  recalled  after  Nero's  accession  in  Oct.  a.d. 
54,  he  could  have  reached  Rome  and  been  acquitted  before 
Feb.  A.D.  55,  and  also  by  the  fact  that,  while  Pallas  was 
dismissed  from  office  in  a.d.  55,  he  lived  and  retained 
great  influence  till  a.d.  62.  The  language  of  Josephus, 
therefore,  strong  as  it  is,  cannot  be  used  to  uphold  the 
Eusebian  date;  nor  would  the  recall  of  Felix  in  54  be 
consistent  with  the  assignment  of  the  accession  of  Festus 
to  55-56.  Josephus,  moreover,  explicitly  states  (B.  J. 
ii.  xiii.  2),  that  Nero  reappointed  Felix.  Ramsay,  on 
the  other  hand  (St.  Paul  the  Trav.  p.  259),  fixes  the 
year  of  Paul's  arrest  as  a.d.  57,  and  that  of  the  acces- 
sion of  Festus  as  a.d.  59,  by  computing  that  the  pass- 
over  preceding  the  arrest  (Acts  xx.  6)  fell  on  a  Thursday, 
which  it  is  said  to  have  done  in  a.d.  57.  This  latter 
fact,  however,  is  itself  open  to  question,  and  Ramsay's 


318  APPENDIX 

view  further  supposes  that  Luke's  statement  "  we  sailed 
away  from  Philippi  after  the  days  of  unleavened  bread  " 
must  be  understood  to  mean  on  the  very  next  day  after. 
Finally,  C.  H.  Turner  (Hast.  D.  of  B.  Chronology  of  the 
N.  T.)  with  much  plausibility  assigns  the  arrest  of 
Paul  to  A.D.  56,  and  tlie  accession  of  Festus  to  58.  The 
main  difficulty  with  this  scheme  is  that,  while  following 
Josephus  rather  than  Eusebius,  it  fails  to  assign  as  much 
time  as  the  Jewish  historian  would  seem  to  require  us  to 
do  to  the  administration  of  Felix  under  Nero.  While, 
therefore,  certainty  is  not  possible,  the  year  60  still 
remains  the  most  probable  one  for  the  accession  of 
Festus. 

328.  Besides  these  principal  dates,  others  have  been 
sought  with  more  or  less  success.  The  dominion  of  Are- 
tas,  king  of  the  Nabataeans,  over  Damascus  at  the  time 
of  Paul's  escape  (II.  Cor.  xi.  32)  cannot,  from  what  we 
know  of  Damascus  coins,  and  of  the  relation  of  Aretas  to 
the  Komans,  have  begun  before  a.  d.  34,  and  probably 
not  before  a.  d.  37  (see  Turner,  Hast.  D.  of  B.  Chron- 
ology). Again,  the  edict  of  Claudius  on  account  of  which 
Aquila  and  Priscilla  had  "  lately "  come  from  Rome  to 
Corinth  when  Paul  reached  the  latter  city  (Acts  xviii.  2) 
is  assigned  by  Orosius,  a  Christian  historian  of  the  fifth 
century,  to  the  ninth  year  of  Claudius  (=  a.  d.  49).  Oro- 
sius indeed  was  mistaken  in  citing  Josephus  for  this  date, 
and  Earn  say  (St.  Paul  the  Trav.  pp.  69,  254)  may  be  right 
in  the  conjecture  that  the  dates  in  Orosius  are  one  year 
too  early ;  but  his  testimony  accords  better  with  the  com- 
mon than  with  the  Eusebian  chronology.  Moreover  we 
should  not  press  Luke's  expression  '^  lately  come  from 
Italy "  too  far.  In  like  manner  the  procuratorship  of 
Gallio  in  Achaia  could  hardly  have  been  earlier  than 
A.  D.  49,  the  year  when  his  brother  Seneca  was  recalled 
from  exile,  and  may  have  been  several  years  later. 

329.  The  chronology  of  Acts  is,  then,  to  be  constructed 
on  the  basis  of  these  data.    If  the  accession  of  Festus 


APPENDIX  319 

was  in  a.  d.  60,  it  was  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  that 
Paul  sailed  from  Caesarea  to  Rome  (Acts  xxv.  1,  13; 
xxvii.  12).  He  arrived  in  the  capital  in  the  spring  of 
61  (Acts  xxviii.  11,  12).  The  two  years  of  his  residence 
in  Eome  (Acts  xxviii.  30)  make  the  narrative  of  Acts 
close  in  a.  d.  63.  On  the  other  hand,  counting  back 
from  the  accession  of  Festus,  Paul's  arrest,  two  years  be- 
fore (Acts  xxiv.  27),  was  in  58.  The  preceding  winter 
(a.  d.  57,  58)  he  liad  spent  in  Greece  (Acts  xx.  3),  after 
having,  during  the  autumn  of  57,  travelled  through  Mace- 
donia (Acts  XX.  2).  Before  that  he  had  spent  three 
years  in  Ephesus  (Acts  xx.  31).  This  brings  us  to  the 
summer  or  spring  of  A.  d.  51  as  the  time  of  his  depart- 
ure from  Syrian  Antioch  on  what  is  usually  called  his 
third  journey  (Acts  xviii.  23).  That  journey  began  after 
he  had  spent  "some  time"  in  Antioch,  probably  the 
winter,  at  the  close  of  his  second  journey.  On  the  latter 
he  had  passed  eighteen  months  in  Corinth  (Acts  xviii.  11), 
after  having  travelled  through  and  labored  in  Galatia, 
Macedonia,  Berea,  and  Athens.  It  is  safe  to  assign 
therefore  to  the  second  journey  two  years  and  a  half, 
which,  counting  back  from  the  autumn  of  A.  d.  53,  must 
have  begun  in  the  spring  of  51.  The  second  journey  be- 
gan not  long  after  the  council  at  Jerusalem,  which  thus 
must  be  dated  in  a.  d.  50,  or  possibly  51.  The  first  jour- 
ney of  Barnabas  and  Paul  (Acts  xiii.,  xiv.)  can  only  be 
assigned  roughly  to  the  period  between  a.  d.  44  and  50. 
Neither  can  we  say  how  long  a  time  was  consumed  by  it. 
We  may  assume  for  it  the  years  47,  48. 

330.  The  date  of  Paul's  conversion  must  be  obtained 
from  his  statement  in  Gal.  ii.  1:  "Then  fourteen  years 
after  I  went  xip  again  to  Jerusalem  with  Barnabas." 
Assuming  this  to  have  been  the  visit  to  the  Council,  the 
question  arises,  from  what  are  the  "  fourteen  years  "  to  be 
counted  ?  The  most  natural  interpretation  is  to  count 
them  from  the  visit  to  Jerusalem  mentioned  in  i.  18, 
which  is  there  said  to  have  been  three  years  after  his 


320  APPENDIX 

conversion.  Counting  back  from  A.  d.  50,  and  reckoning 
the  two  periods  of  fourteen  and  three  years  inclusively  as 
was  the  common  Jewish  method,  we  have  a.  d.  37  for  the 
first  visit  to  Jerusalem,  and  a.  d.  35  for  the  conversion. 
If  the  apostle  reckoned  exclusively,  the  dates  would  be 
36  and  33  respectively. 

331.  For  the  events  subsequent  to  the  close  of  Acts  we 
are  dependent  on  tradition  and  the  dates  assigned  to  the 
later  books  of  the  New  Testament.  Paul's  death  under 
Nero  is  placed  by  Eusebius  in  his  Chroniconin  a.d.  67,  or, 
according  to  Jerome  (De  vir.  ill.  5),  in  68.  If  the  Euse- 
bian  dating  of  the  accession  of  Festus  be  correct,  Paul 
reached  Rome  in  56  or  57,  Acts  closed  with  58  or  59,  and  a 
period  of  eight  or  nine  years  elapsed  between  the  apostle's 
release  from  the  first  imprisonment  and  his  death.  If  the 
common  chronology  be  followed,  he  was  released  in  63, 
and  the  remaining  period  was  but  four  or  five  years. 
Many  insist,  however  (see  Marnack,  Chronol.  p.  240, 
Turner,  Hast.  D.  of  B.  Chronology'),  that  the  apostle  must 
leave  perished  in  the  first  outbreak,  or  at  least  in  the  first 
year,  of  Nero's  persecution,  which  took  place  according  to 
Tacitus  in  64.  It  is  noted  that  Eusebius  places  the  perse- 
cution as  well  as  the  deaths  of  Peter  and  Paul  in  the  same 
year,  thus  assigning  the  latter  to  the  year  of  the  persecu- 
tion though  giving  the  wrong  date.  It  is  further  argued 
that  the  year  67  was  fixed  upon  by  the  tradition  which 
Eusebius  followed  because  of  the  legend  that  Peter  was 
twenty-five  years  in  Rome,  which  years  were  calculated 
in  accordance  with  another  tradition  that  the  apostles 
remained  in  Jerusalem  for  twelve  years  after  Christ's 
death.  There  is  certainly  force  in  these  considerations. 
But  it  may  also  be  said  that  Eusebius,  who  knew  nothing 
of  Tacitus,  may  have  dated  the  persecution  wrongly, 
because,  knowing  on  other  grounds  that  the  apostles  lived 
till  near  the  close  of  Nero's  reign,  he  fixed  it  to  suit  the 
time  of  their  death,  having  in  mind,  perhaps,  not  its  first 
outbreak,  but  its  chief  victims.    Eusebius,  though  bringing 


APPENDIX  321 

Peter  to  Rome  during  the  time  of  Claudius,  indicates  no 
acquaintance  with  the  legend  of  the  apostle's  twenty-five- 
year  residence  there  ;  and  in  his  history  (II.  22,  25)  repre- 
sents the  martyrdom  of  the  apostles  as  the  climax  of 
Nero's  increasing  wickedness.  The  statement  of  the 
Chronicon,  therefore,  does  not  compel  the  belief  that  the 
apostles  died  in  the  first  year  of  the  persecution ;  and  as 
reasons  exist  for  believing  that  Peter  lived  till  later,  it 
may  well  be  that  Paul  did  also,  in  accordance  with  the 
tradition  that  the  two  apostles  perished  about  the  same 
time.  While  certainty  is  again  unattainable,  we  may  accept 
the  year  67  as  the  approximate  date  of  Paul's  death. 

332.  Peter's  death  should  be  assigned  to  about  the  same 
time  as  Paul's,  though  probably  a  little  later.  Harnack 
(Chron.  p.  243,  note  1)  dates  it,  like  Paul's,  in  64  on  the 
ground  (1)  that  Caius  (a.  d.  180-235)  states  that  Peter 
died  on  the  Vatican  Hill,  the  locality  which,  according  to 
Tacitus,  witnessed  the  sufferings  of  the  first  martyrs  in 
Nero's  gardens  ;  (2)  that  Nero's  persecution  did  not  last 
long ;  and  (3)  that  the  Jloman  lists  of  bishops,  counting 
back  from  the  death  of  Anicetus  (a.  d.  166)  carries  us 
back  to  64  as  the  first  year  of  Linus,  Peter's  successor. 
These  arguments,  however,  are  not  convincing.  The  first 
is  obviously  insufficient.  It  is  probable  that  persecution 
did  continue  more  or  less  throughout  Nero's  reign  (see  sect. 
288).  The  Roman  lists  of  bishops  are  untrustworthy. 
In  fact,  Ramsay  (Ch.  in  Emp.  p.  283)  finds  a  Roman 
tradition  which,  he  thinks,  justifies  the  supposition  that 
Peter  may  have  lived  till  even  after  Nero's  death.  Finally, 
the  first  epistle  of  Peter  implies  the  existence  of  such  a 
condition  of  things  in  the  relation  of  the  Christians  to  the 
government  as  can  only  be  assigned  to  the  years  follow- 
ing the  outbreak  of  Nero's  persecution. 

333.  It  was  the  steadfast  tradition  of  the  early  Church, 
represented  by  Irenseus  {adv.  hcer.  II.  22,  5),  that  the 
apostle  John  lived  till  the  times  of  Trajan.  His  death 
should  be  assigned,  therefore,  to  a.  d.  98  -[-. 


322 


APPENDIX 


334.    These  results  may  be  tabulated  as  follows, 
schemes  are  presented  for  comparison. 


Other 


Crucifixion 

Paul's  couversion 

Paul's  first  visit  to  Jerusalem 
Death  of  Herod  Agrippa  .  . 
Paul's  second  visit  to  Jerusalem 
First  miss,  journey  .... 
Jerusalem  Council  .... 
Second  miss,  journey  .  .  . 
Third  miss,  journey   .... 

Paul's  arrest 

Accession  of  Festus  .... 
Paul's  arrival  in  Rome  .     .     . 

Close  of  Acts 

Paul's  death 

Peter's  death 

John's  death 


Lightfoot 

Harnack 

Turner 

Ramsay 

30 

[30] 

29  or  30 

29 

30 

35 

34 

30 

35,36 

33 

37 

37 

33 

38 

35,36 

44 

44 

44 

44 

44 

44  or  45 

45 

[44] 

46 

46 

47,  48  ? 

48 

45 

47 

47-19 

50 

51 

47 

49 

50 

51-53 

51-54 

47-50 

49-52 

50-53 

54-58 

54-58 

50-54 

52-56 

53-57 

58 

58 

54 

56 

57 

GO 

CO 

56 

58 

59 

CI 

61 

57 

59 

60 

63 

C3 

59 

61 

62 

67  (GS) 

68? 

(4 

64-65 

65 

67  (68) 

64 

64-65 

80? 

98  + 

SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Thk  student  is  referred  to  the  admirable  "  List  of 
Books  "  appended  by  Prof.  J.  H,  Thayer  to  his  little  volume 
entitled  Books  and  their  Use  (Houghton,  Mifflin  and  Co., 
1893)  ;  also  to  Prof.  M.  E.  Vincent's  Students  N.  T. 
Handbook  (Chas.  Scribner's  Sons,  1893).  The  following 
bibliography  is  intended  to  include  only  works  specially 
representative  of  various  schools  of  investigation. 


GENERAL  WORKS  ON  THE   APOSTOLIC  AGE 

A.  Neander's  History  of  the  Planting  and  Training  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  (4th  ed.  1847)  really  begau  the  modern  hterature  on 
tills  subject,  and  is  still  of  the  highest  value.  F.  C.  Baur's 
Church  History  of  the  First  Three  Centuries  (Eng.  trans-  1878,  9) 
represents  in  most  complete  form  the  reconstruction  of  the  his- 
tory of  Primitive  Christianity  by  the  Tubingen  School.  A  rep- 
resentative reply  to  the  latter,  and  still  perhaps  the  best  hook  in 
this  department,  is  G.  V.  Lechler's  The  apostolic  and  post  apostolic 
Times  (Eng.  trans.  1886).  A.  Ritschl's  Die  Entstehung  der  altka- 
tholischen  Kirche  ('2d  ed.  1857)  broke  with  the  Tubingen  scheme, 
represented  the  Christianity  of  the  second  century  as  the  result 
of  the  union  of  degenerate  Paulinism  with  Hellenism,  and 
started  anew  and  fruitful  line  of  investigation.  Philip  SchafE's 
History  of  the  Apostolic  Church  (1853)  is  readable,  popular,  and 
still  valuable;  while  O.  Pfleiderer's  Das  Urchristenthum  (1887) 
repi'esents  a  later  modification  of  the  Tubingen  views,  especially 
emphasizing  the  influence  of  Alexandrian  philosophy  on  early 
Christianity.  C.  Von  "Weizacker's  The  Apostolic  Age  of  the 
Christian  Church  (Eng.  trans.  1894,  5)  is  an  able  work,  written  in 
the  spirit  of  free,  independent  criticism  ;  while  J.  I.  Ddllinger's 
The  First  Age  of  the  Church  (1807)  is  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
point  of  view.     W.  M.  Ramsay's  The  Church  in  the  Roman  Em- 


324  SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

pire  hefore  A.D.  170  (1893)  is  a  work  of  high  value,  which  none 
should  fail  to  study.  O.  J.  Thatcher's  Sketch  of  the  History  of 
the  Apostolic  Age  (1893)  is  a  brief  outline,  somewhat  influenced 
by  the  Ritschlian  conception  of  the  history.  Most  recent  of  all 
are  A.  C.  McGiffert's  The  Apostolic  Age  (1898)  and  Jas.  Vernon 
Bartlet's  work  with  the  same  title  (1899). 


LIVES    OF    THE    APOSTLES 

(1)  Paul.  Conybeare  and  Howson's  The  Life  and  Epistles 
■  of  St.   Paul  (revised  ed.    1875) ;  Thos.   Lewin's  work  with  the 

same  title  (4th  ed.  1878) ;  F.  W.  Farrar's  The  Life  and  Work 
of  St.  Paul  (1879)  ;  and  W.  M.  Ramsay's  St.  Paul  the  Traveller 
and  the  Roman  Citizen  (1896)  are  the  most  important  British 
productions  on  this  subject.  F.  C.  Baur's  Paul  the  Apostle  of 
Jesus  Christ  (Eng.  trans.  1873-5)  represents  the  Tubingen  school. 
A.  Sabatier's  The  Apostle  Paul  (Eng.  trans.  1891)  is  an  interest- 
ing and  able  work,  freely  critical  but  very  suggestive.  G.  A. 
Gilbert's  Hie  Student's  Life  of  Paid  (1899)  is  brief,  but  to  be 
commended  to  younger  students.  Three  works,  connected  with 
phases  of  the  apostle's  life,  should  be  particularly  mentioned; 
namely,  James  Smith's  Voyage  and  Shipwreck  of  St.  Paul  (4th 
ed.  1880),  George  Matheson's  Spiritual  Development  of  St.  Paul 
(1891),  and  R.  Steinmetz's  Die  Zweite  romische  Gefangenshaft 
des  Apostels  Paulus  (1897). 

(2)  Peter.  S.  G.  Green's  The  Apostle  Peter,  his  Life  and 
Letters  (1873);  Henriot's  Saijit  Pierre  (1891);  to  which  maybe 
added  E.  Scharfe's  Die  Petrinische  Stromung  der  Neutestamentlichen 
Literatur  (1893). 

(3)  John.  J.  M.  Macdonald's  Life  and  Writings  of  St.  John 
(1877). 

Ill 

WORKS   BEARING    ON   THE   RELATION   OF    CHRISTIANITY  TO 
JUDAISM    AND    PAGANISM 

E.  Schiirer's  History  of  the  Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of  Jesus 
Christ  (Eng.  trans.  5  vols.  1896)  is  invaluable.  Briefer  is  O. 
Holtzmann's  Neutestamentliche  Zeitgeschichte  (1895).     A.   Haus- 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  325 

rath's  A  History  of  the  New  Testament  Times  (Eng.  trans.  4  vols. 
1895)  is  less  to  be  commended.  J.  S.  Riggs'  A  History  of  the 
Jewish  People  during  the  Maccahcean  and  Roman  Periods  is  the 
best  succinct  account  of  the  external  environment  of  Jewish 
Christianity.  F.  Weber's  System  der  altsynayogulen  Paldsli- 
nisohen  Theologie  (1880);  J.  Drummond's  The  Jewish  Messiah 
(1877);  V.  H.  Stanton's  The  Jewish  and  Christian  Messiah  (1886); 
and  J.  B.  Lightfoot's  Dissertations  on  the  Apostolic  Age  (1892) 
illustrate  the  subject  from  important  points  of  view.  A  popular 
work  is  C.  Geike's  New  Testament  Hours;  The  Apostles,  their  Lices 
and  Letters  (1895). 

For  the  pagan  environment  of  apostolic  Christianity  reference 
should  be  made  to  Th.  Keini's  Rom  und  das  Christenthum  (1881); 
Th.  Mommsen's  The  Provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire  (Eng.  trans. 
1887) ;  L.  Friedliiuder's  DarsteUungen  aus  der  Sittengeschichte 
Roms  in  der  Zeit  von  August  bis  zum  Ausgang  der  Antonine  (6th 
ed.  1888-90)  ;  J.  Marquart's  Romische  Staatsverivaltung ;  Zte 
Band,  Das  Sacralwesen  (1885)  ;  C.  F.  Arnold's  Die  Neronische 
Christenveifolgung  (1888);  P.  AUard's  Histoire  des  Persecutions 
pendant  les  deux  premiers  siecles  (1885) ;  A.  Aube's  Histoire 
des  Persecutions  de  VEglise  jusqu'a  la  fin  des  Antonins  (1875) ; 
Ramsay's  Church  in  the  Empire,  already  mentioned ;  E.  Hicks' 
Traces  of  Greek  Philosophy  and  Roman  Law  in  the  N.  T.  (1896)  ; 
S.  R.  Forbes'  The  Footsteps  of  St.  Paid  in  Rome  (1889)  ;  H. 
Cox's  The  First  Century  of  Christianity  (1886)  ;  Northcote  and 
Brownlow's  Roma  Sotterranea,  Y^Tp.  1-110  (1879);  W.  M.  Ram- 
say's Historical  Geography  of  Asia  Minor  (1890). 


IV 

CHRISTIAN   INSTITUTIONS 

W.  Cave's  Primitive  Christianity  (1840)  ;  E.  Hatch's  Tlie  Or- 
ganization of  the  Early  Christia7i  Churches  (Bampton  Lectt.  for 
1880);  J.  B.  Lightfoot's  Essay  on  the  Christian  Ministry  (Com. 
on  Philippians) ;  J.  Reville's  Les  Origines  de  Vepiscopat  (1894) ; 
Jas.  Cunningham's  The  Growth  of  the  Church  in  its  Organization 
and  Institutions  (Croal  Lectt.  for  1886) ;  F.  J.  A.  Hort's  The 
Christian  Ecclesia  (1897) ;  A.  V.  G.  Allen's  Christian  Institutions, 
chaps,  ii.  and  iii.  (1897). 


526  SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    THE   APOSTOLIC   AGE 

Wieseler's  Chronologie  der  Apostolischen  Zeitalters  (1848)  ;  J.  B. 
Lightfoot's  Chronology  of  St.  PauVs  Life  and  Epistles  (Biblical 
Essays)  ;  Schiirer's  Hist,  of  Jew  People,  etc.  I.  ii.  pp.  163,  182 ; 
A.  Harnack's  Die  Chronologie  der  Altchristlichen  Literatur  his 
Eusehius ;  Erster  Band  (1897),  especially  the  sections  on  Chro- 
nologie des  Paulus  (p.  233)  and  Das  Todesjahr  des  Petrus  und 
Paulus  (p.  240);  C.  H.  Turner's  article  on  The  Chronology  of  the 
N.  T.  in  Hastings'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible;  W.  M.  Ramsay's 
St.  Paid  the  Trav.  pp.  45,  49,  51,  58,  128,  174,  189,  226,  234,  254, 
258,  264,  265,  275,  286,  289,  313,  351,  363  ;  Th.  Zahn's  Einlei- 
tung  in  das  N.  T.,  vol.  ii.  p.  626  (1899);  Blass'  Acta  Apostolorum, 
pp.  21-24  (1895);  B.  W.  Bacon  in  The  Expositor,  1898  p.  123, 
1899,  p.  351 ;  G.  H.  Gilbert's  StudenVs  Life  of  Paul,  Append,  ii. 
(1899). 

VI 

INTRODUCTIONS  TO  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT 

Those  of  G.  Salmon  (1889),  B.  Weiss  (Eng.  trans.  1888),  A. 
JUlicher  (1894),  H.  J.  Holtzmaun  (1885),  Th.  Zahu  (1897-9), 
and  F.  Godet  (Eng.  trans.  1894,  1899)  are  the  representative 
ones.  To  them  may  be  added  P.  Gloag's  Introductions  to  the 
Pauline  Epp.  (1874),  to  the  Catholic  Epp.  (1887),  and  to  the 
Johannine  Writings  (1891);  also  J.  R.  Lumby's  Popular  Intro- 
duction to  the  N.  T.  (1883). 


vn 

THE   THEOLOGY  OP   THE   APOSTLES 

A.  Neander's  Planting  and  Training,  etc.  (see  above) ;  A. 
Immer's  Theologie  des  Af,  T.  (1877)  ;  O.  Pfleiderer's  Paulinisrn 
(Eng.  trans.  1877)  ;  C.  F.  Schmid's  Biblical  Theology  of  the 
N.  T.  (Eng.  trans.  1870) ;  B.  Weiss'  Biblical  Theology  of  the 
N.  T.  (Eng.  trans.  1882) ;  W.  Beyschlag's  N.  T.  Theology  (Eng. 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  327 

trans.  1895);  W.  Alexander's  System  of  Bib.  Theology  (1888); 
G.  B.  Stevens'  Pauline  (1894),  Johannine  (1895),  and  N.  T.  The- 
ology (1899);  W.  Milligan's  Lectures  on  the  Apocalypse  (1892); 
G.  Milligan's  Theology  of  the  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews  (1899)  ;  J.  J. 
Lias'  Doctrinal  System  of  St.  John  (1875) ;  C.  A.  Briggs'  Messiah 
of  the  Apostles  (1895). 


vin 

SPECIAL   TREATISES 

The  following  are  mentioned,  out  of  the  vast  mass  of  similar 
literature,  because  bearing  on  a  few  points  of  special  interest. 

F.  C.  Baur's  Die  Christuspartei  in  der  Korinthischen  Gemeinde 
(Tub.  Zeitschr.  f.  Theol.  1831.  Heft  iv.),  with  which  compare 
K.  Wieseler's  Zur  Geschichte  der  Neiitestament lichen  Schrift  und 
der  Urchristenthum  (1880);  B.  B.  Warfield's  articles  on  the  Caii- 
onicity  and  Genuineness  of  Second  Peter  (Presbyterian  Review, 
Jan.  1882  and  Apr.  18S:3) ;  W.  K.  Ilobart's  The  Medical  Language 
of  St.  Luke  (1882);  J.  B.  Lightfoot's  Dissertations  on  the  Ap.  Age 
(1892);  F.  J.  A.  Hort's  Judaistic  Christianity  (1894);  W.  R. 
Sorley's  Jewish  Christians  and  Judaism  (1881);  G.  P.  Fisher's 
Supernatural  Origin  of  Christianity  (.3d  ed.  1870) ;  R.  J.  Knowl- 
ing's  The  Witness  of  the  Epistles  (1892). 

The  following  works,  pertaining  to  particular  books  of  the 
New  Testament,  are  also  worthy  of  special  notice.  The  com- 
mentaries on  The  Epistle  of  .Tames  by  J.  B.  Mayor  and  W. 
Beysclilag;  on  Romans  by  Sanday  and  Headlam,  to  wliich  should 
be  added  the  Analysis  of  the  Ep.  to  the  Rom.  by  the  late  Canon 
Liddon ;  ou  the  Pastoral  Epistles  by  B.  Weiss,  to  which  add  the 
Appendix  on  the  Epp.  to  Tim.  and  Titus,  by  Geo.  G.  Findlay,  in 
the  Eng.  trans,  of  Sabatier's  St.  Paul.  Recent  attempts  to  an- 
alyze into  its  sources  the  Book  of  Acts  have  been  made  by  F. 
Spitta  (Die  Apostelgeschichte,  1891),  C.  Clemen  (Chronologie  der 
paid.  Briefe,  1893),  .Toh.  Jungst  {Die  Qnelen  der  Apostelg.  1895), 
but  they  do  not  commend  themselves  either  by  their  processes  or 
their  results.  Hackett's  Commentary  on  Acts  (revised  by  A.  Hovey, 
1882)  is  still  standard,  though  it  does  not  include  the  most 
recnnt  archaeological  inv(!stigations.  These  latter  are  included 
in  the  small  but  excellent  People's  Com.  on  A cts,  by  E.  W.  Rice 
(1896).     Blass'  Acta  Apostolorum  (1895)  is  very  interesting  from 


328  SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

the  critical  and  philological  points  of  view.  The  "  Revelation  " 
has  also  of  lale  years  received  much  attention.  The  history  of 
attempts  to  analyze  it  into  sources  may  be  read  in  an  article  by 
Geo.  A.  Barton  in  the  Amer.  Journ.  of  Theology  (Oct.  1S9S) 
entitled  The  Apoc.  and  recent  criticism.  See  also  on  the  same 
subject  Briggs'  Messiah  of  the  Apostles,  chh.  ix-xv.  But  for  the 
best  treatment  of  the  Apocalypse,  we  refer  to  W.  Milligan's 
Revelation  of  St.  John  (Baird  Lectt.  for  1885),  and  the  same 
author's  Discussions  on  the  Apocalypse   (1893). 


INDEXES 


INDEX  OF  NAMES  AND   SUBJECTS 


[References  are  to  pages.    Names  of  modern  authors  are  in  italics.] 


Acts,  Book  of,  authorship,  5;  "  we  " 
sections,  5;  historical  value,  6,  7; 
date,  5,  272;  method  of  composi- 
tion, 7,  59,  382,  186;  text,  8;  har- 
mony with  epistles,  24,  25,  41,63,  88, 
308;  emphasis  on  Paul's  work,  178. 

Agabus,  107,  231. 

Agrippa  II.,  214. 

Ananias  (and  Sapphira)  38,  40. 

Ananias  of  Damascus,  76. 

Antioch,  Pisidian,  114,  120. 

Antioch,  Syrian,  102. 

Antioch,  Christianity  in  Syrian,  65, 
101,  111,  121,  140,"l54,  155,  203.' 

Appearances  of  Christ  after  resurrec- 
tion, 12,  15. 

Apocryphal  Acts,  4. 

Apocryphal  Gospels,  4,  12,  292. 

Apollo's,  205,  215. 

Apostles:  original  appointment,  9; 
witnesses  to  resurrection,  11,  36; 
rulers  of  the  Church,  24,  25,  41,  63, 
88,  308;  qualifications  and  func- 
tions, 24,  35;  early  teaching,  42- 
46;  delocalization  of  the  apostolate, 
90,  172;  apostolic  teaching  the  test 
of  prophecy,  106;  authority,  285, 
292,  312. 

Aquila  (and  Priscilla),  194,  195,  203, 
205. 

Aristarchus,  235,  239. 

Aristion,  304. 

Ascension,  The,  19. 

Asiarchs,  207,  252. 

Assumption  of  Moses,  308. 

Athens,  Paul  at,  191. 


Baptism,  instituted  by  Christ,  16; 
formula  used,  16,  36;  administra- 
tion of,  35. 

Barnabas,  87,  102,  104,  108,  111-122, 
141,  155,  177,  179,  266,  311. 

Bartlet,  141,  255. 

Berea,  Christianity  in,  190. 

Beyschlag,  121 . 

"  Bishops,"  250,  258,  298. 

Bithynia,  Christianity  in,  185. 

Brethren  of  the  Lord,  21, 130, 132, 177. 

Cerinthus,  299. 

"Christians,"  origin  of  the  term,  104. 

Chronology  of  apostolic  age,  315-322. 

"Church;"  see  Ecclesia. 

Cilicia,  Christianity  in,  90,  179. 

Circumcision,  question  of,  89,  97,  98, 

104,  109,  130,  139. 
Claudius,  decree  of,  194,  195,  226,  318. 
Clemens,  Flavius,  296. 
Clement  of  Philippi,  187. 
Clement  of  Rome,  Epistle  of,  171,  254, 

265,  276,  297,  311. 
(ylementine  Homilies,  133. 
Colosse,  241. 
Colossians,  Epistle  to  the,  172,  241- 

245. 
Colossian  errorists,  242. 
Community  of  goods,  37. 
Conybeare  and  IJowson,  69,  260. 
Corinth,   194;    Christianity   in,    194- 

197. 
Corinthians,  First  Epistle  to  the;  date 

and  occasion,   213;  contents,  215- 

221. 


332 


INDEX  OF   NAMES   AND   SUBJECTS 


Corinthians,    Second  Epistle   to    the, 

224,  225. 
Cornelius,  96. 
Council  at  Jerusalem,  143,  145,  146- 

149,319. 
Crete,  Christianity  in,  256. 
Curtius,  191. 
Cyprus,  Christianity  in,  101,  112,  179. 

Dalmatia,  252. 

Damascus,  Christianity  in,  47,  85. 

Deacons,  41,  250,  258. 

Deissmann,  69,  111. 

Derbe,  118,  120. 

Dio  Cassius,  108. 

Dionysius  of  Corinth,  276. 

Doniitian,  Persecution  by,  301. 

Domitilla,  296. 

ECCLESIA,  92. 

Egypt,  Christianity  in,  205,  295. 
Elders,    Christian,    92,   94,   109,    134, 

250,  258,  298;  Jewish,  93. 
Eh'mas,  113. 
Enoch,  Book  of,  45,  308. 
Epaphroditus,  187,  240,  250. 
Epaphras,  240,  241. 
Ephesians,  Epistle  to  the,  246-249. 
Ephesus,    206;    Christianity   in,   206, 

207,  303. 
Epiphanius,  163. 
Essenes,  Alleged  influence  on   Chris- 

tianit}',  38. 
Ethiopian  steward,  64. 
Esdras,  Fourth  book  of,  45. 
Eusebius,  95,  108,  128,  130,  131,  132, 

133,   163,   165,    177,  253,  254,  275, 

317,  320. 

Famine  under  Claudius,  107. 
Felix,  233,  316. 
Festus,  234,  316. 

Galatia,  181;  evangelization  of,  184; 

second  visit  of  Paul  to,  204. 
Galatians,    Epistle  to   the;   to  whom 

written,   182-184;    date,    183,    207; 

occasion,    208;    contents,   209-212; 

importance,  212. 
Gamaliel,  49,  50,  69,  70. 


Gieseler,  3. 

Gnosticism,  Beginnings  of,  243,  299. 

Godet,  169. 

Gospel,  The  oral,  290,  291. 

Gospels,  The :  value,  4,  292 ;  accounts 
of  resurrection,  4,  12;  accounts  of 
movements  of  the  disciples  after  the 
resurrection,  17,  18;  origin  of  their 
narratives,  42,  43,  290,  292;  see  also 
"Synoptic  gospels,"  and  "John, 
writings  of." 

Harnack,  5,  169,  277,  317,  320,  321. 

Hatch,  250. 

Hebrews,  Epistle  to  the^  128,  164,165; 

authorship    and    destination,    265- 

267 ;  contents,  286-289. 
Hegesippus,  132. 
Hellenism,   Relation  of    Christianity 

to,  216,  302. 
Hellenists,  40,  41. 
Herod  Agrippa  I.,  99, 100,  315. 
Hicks,  207. 
Hort,  150. 

IcoNiuM,  Christianity  in,  118,  120. 
Ignatius,  Epistles  of,  171,  276,  295. 
Illyricum,  252. 
Irenseus,  321. 

James,  Epistle  of,  42, 1 25-127, 134-136. 

James,  the  Lord's  brother,  21,  87, 130- 
134,  144,  147,  155,  160,  161,  162, 
163,  231. 

James,  the  son  of  Alphaeus,  130,  132. 

James,  the  son  of  Zebedee,  99,  130. 

Jerome,  275,  320. 

Jesus  Christ:  founder  of  Christianity, 
9;  resurrection,  10-15;  last  instruc- 
tions, 16,  19;  ascension;  19;  ex- 
altation, 20,  30,  44;  divinity,  45, 
243,  282,  288,  304. 

Johannean  period  of  apostolic  history, 
294-311. 

John:  writings  of,  272-274,  304-311; 
mission  to  Samaria,  63 ;  at  Ephesus, 
302,303;  teaching,  304-311;  death, 
321. 

Josephus :  death  of  John  the  Baptist, 
3;  death  of  James,  3,  128,  130, 131; 


INDEX   OF  NAMES  AND   SUBJECTS 


333 


reference  to  Christians,  3;  variety 
of  Jews  in  Jerusalem,  28;  Jewish 
sects,  48;  the  "Gate  beautiful,"  48; 
Solomon's  porch,  48;  Theudas,  50; 
rule  of  Marcellus,  54;  death  of 
Herod  Agrippa  I.,  60,  99,  100;  the 
famine,  107;  women  in  Asia  Minor, 
118;  silence  about  Christians  in 
Judea,  160;  Jews  in  Galatia,  183; 
"the  Egyptian,"  232;  chronological 
data,  315-317. 

Judaic  Christianity,  125-166,  286,  300. 

Judaism,  Relation  of  Christianity  to, 
17,  19,  37,  39,  41,  47,  53,  66,  84,  89, 
91,  97-100,  129,  136-138,  140,  155, 
157,  161,  163,  164,  300. 

Judaizers,  140,  143,  148,  162, 178,  204, 
208,  222. 

Judas  Barsabbas,  148, 154. 

Judas  the  Galilean,  50. 

Jude,  282. 

Jude,  Epistle  of,  269,  283. 

Julirher,  169. 

Justin  Martyr,  297. 

Leckt,  149. 

Liffktfoot,  J.  B.,207, 227, 236, 250,  296. 

Lipsius,  105. 

Logos,  Doctrine  of  the,  304. 

Love-feasts,  35. 

Luke,  5,  185,  187,  231,  235,  239. 

Luke's  gospel,  17,  271,  293. 

Lydia  of  Thyatira,  186. 

Lystra,  118,  119,  120,  180. 

Marcion's  Canon,  171. 
Mark,  110,  112,  113,  179. 
Mark's  gospel,  4,  18,  271,  293. 
Matthew's  gospel,  17,  270,  293. 
Matthias,  23,  25. 
McGifert,  6,  113. 
Methods  of  Missionary  work,  121. 
JUilligan,  G.,  265. 

Nabat.«:ans,  86,  318. 
Nero,  Persecution  by,  253,  257,  260, 
279,  280,301. 

Old  Testament,  Use  of  by  Chris- 
tians, 24,  43,  52. 
Onesimus,  239,  241,  245. 


Organization  of  the  churches ;  apostles 
appointed  by  Jesus,  9;  election  of 
Matthias,  23-26;  "the  Seven,"  40- 
42;  separate  synagogues,  66,  91, 
92;  "  Synagogue"  and  "  ecclesia," 
92;  the  eldership,  93,  94;  authority 
of  the  mother  church,  103, 145, 151 ; 
independence  of  Pauline  churches, 
146, 152,183;  apostolic  authority,  24, 
25,  35,  41,  63,  88,  285,  292,  308,"  312. 

Orr,  Jas.,  239. 

Paul  :  persecutor  of  the  disciples,  55, 
72 ;  his  origin,  68 ;  his  name,  69, 
education,  69,  70;  personality,  71; 
motives  of  his  persecution,  72;  no 
predisposition  toward  Christianity, 
73 ;  his  earlier  religious  experience, 
74;  his  conversion,  75-79,  319;  his 
Christian  beliefs,  79-85,  158,  230, 
243,  244,  248,  251;  his  life  imme- 
diately after  conversion,  85-90;  in 
Antioch,  104;  visit  to  Jerusalem 
with  gifts  from  Antioch,  108 ;  mis- 
sionary journey  with  Barnabas,  111- 
122;  address  at  Pisidian  Antioch, 
114-117;  visit  to  the  council,  141- 
144, 147;  acceptance  of  the  council's 
decree,  150-153,  180;  rebuke  of 
Peter,  156-158;  misrepresented  in 
Judea,  162;  importance  of  Paul's 
missionary  work,  178,  252;  his 
second  missionary  journey,  178- 
203;  his  work  in  Ephesus,  204-223; 
from  Ephesus  to  Corinth,  224-231; 
from  Corinth  to  Jerusalem,  231- 
233 ;  imprisonment  at  Caesarea,  23-3- 
235;  voyage  to  Rome,  235-237;  life 
in  Rome,  238-251;  his  last  years, 
252-261 ;  chronology  of  his  life,  319 ; 
date  of  death,  320. 

Pauline  epistles,  genuineness  of,  169- 
176. 

Paulus,  Sergius,  113. 

Papias,  270. 

Pella,  Flight  to,  161,  163. 

Pentecost,  26-34. 

Perga,  113,  121. 

Persecutions,  55,  91,  99,  253,  257,  260, 
279,  280,  301. 


334 


INDEX   OF   NAMES   AND   SUBJECTS 


Peter:  witness  to  resurrection,  11,  29; 
early  prominence,  24 ;  at  Pentecost, 
29 ;  speeches  in  Acts,  43 ;  mission 
to  Samaria,  63;  visited  by  Paul, 
87;  work  in  Syria,  91;  baptism  of 
Cornelius,  96;  imprisonment  and 
escape,  99;  action  at  the  council, 
144,  146 ;  conduct  at  Antioch,  154- 
156;  work  as  an  evangelist,  177; 
last  years,  275-285 ;  date  of  death, 
276,  277,  321;  teaching,  281. 

Peter,  Apocalypse  of,  268. 

Peter,  First  epistle  of,  267,  278. 

Peter,  Gospel  of,  4,  12,  292. 

Peter,  Second  epistle  of,  267-269,  284. 

Pharisees,  Relation  to  Christianity  of, 
39,  140,  161. 

Philemon,  241,  245. 

Philemon,  Epistle  to,  245. 

Philip,  the  evangelist,  61,  64,  65,  231, 
304. 

Philippi,  Christianity  in,  185-188. 

Philippians,  Epistle  to  the,  249-251. 

Polycarp,  Epistle  of,  171. 

Pretorian  guard,  236. 

Prophets,  105. 

Providential  preparations  for  expan- 
sion of  Christianity,  122. 

Ramsay,  W.  M.,  5,7,  60,  108, 112, 113, 
118,  120,  181,  183, 191,  207,  233,  235, 
2.36,  260,  277,  279,  296,  301,  317,  321. 

Resurrection  of  Christ,  10-15,  220. 

"Revelation;"  see  "John,  writings 
of." 

Rhees,  315. 

Riffgs,  160,  309. 

Romans,  Epistle  to  the,  226-230. 

Rome,  Christianity  in,  226,  227,  239- 
241. 

Sadducees,  Relation  to  Christianity 

of,  39,  48,  161,  163. 
Salmon,  169. 

Samaria,  Christianity  in,  61-64. 
Schurer,  3,  28,  38,  48,  49,  55,  60,  92, 

93,  235,  309. 
Sieffert,  143. 
Silas,  148,  154, 179,  195. 
Simon  Magus,  62. 


S7iiitk,  Jas.,  235. 

Social  relationsofChristianity,245, 296. 

Spain,  Christianity  in,  254,  256. 

Spirit,  The  Holy;  bestowed  on  apos- 
tles, 16  ;  promised  in  greater  meas- 
ure, 19;  predicted  in  O.  T.,  22; 
predicted  by  John  and  Jesus,  23; 
given  at  Pentecost,  27;  his  opera- 
tions in  the  apostolic  churches,  36, 
219;  bestowed  through  apostles,  63; 
cause  of  expansion  of  the  Church, 
64,  111,  180,  185;  unifier  of  apos- 
tolic Christianit}',  312. 

Steinmetz,  R.,  254. 

Stephen,  51-54. 

Suetonius,  3,  108, 194,  195,  279. 

Stoete,  4. 

Symeon,  165. 

Synoptic  gospels,  270-272. 

Syria,  Christianity  in,  47,  65,  91, 179. 

Tacitus,  3, 105,  108,  240,  316. 

Tarsus,  68. 

"Teaching  of  the  Apostles,"  26,  36, 
107,  297,  298,  308. 

Thessalonians,  Epistles  to  the,  197-203. 

Thessalonica,  Christianity  in,  188-190. 

Theudas,  50. 

Timothy,  119,  180, 195,  214,  240,  255. 

Timothy  and  Titus,  Epistles  to ;  gen- 
uineness, 170-176;  cannot  be  in- 
serted in  Acts,  255;  date,  256,  259; 
unity,  171,  172,  260. 

Titus,  142,  222-224,  255. 

Tongues,  Gift  of,  31-33. 

Troas,  Christianity  in,  185. 

Turner,  315,  317,  318,  320. 

Tychicus,  241,  247. 

Wmss,  B.,  169. 
Wendt,  31,  116. 
Westcott  and  Hort,  4. 
Widows,  Care  for,  38,  40,  257. 
Women  in  apostolic  churches,  21,  186, 

187,  218. 
Worship,  106,  297. 

Zahn,  Tb.,  169,  182. 
Zealots,  relation  to  Christianity  of  the, 
161. 


INDEX  OF  BIBLICAL  REFERENCES 


Gkn.  Page 

xii.  3  83 

xxu.  18 83 

Ex. 

ixiii.  16 26 

xxxiv.  22 26 

Lev. 
xviu.,  xix 150 

Numb. 
xxviii.  26  26 

Deut. 
xiiii.  1 64 

JUDOBS. 

iii.  10  22 

vi.  34 22 

I.  Sam. 
xi.  6  22 

n.  KiNOS. 
xi.  18 250 

II.  Chbon. 
xxxiv.  12,17 250 

Nkb. 
xi.  9,  14,22 250 

Ps. 

xvi.  8-11;  CI  29 

Is. 
xi.  2;  xxxii.  15  ;  xlii.  1 ; 

xlviii.  16;  Ixi.  1-3 22 

xliv.  3;  lix.  21  23 

Iii.  13  44 

liii 65 

Ix.  17.. 250 

Ez. 
xxxvi.    37  ;    xxxvii.    14 ; 
xxxix.29 23 

Dan. 

vu.  23-25;  xi  36  202 


Hos.           Page 
ii.  7  22 

JOEIi. 

ii.  28,  29  22 

Ahos. 
ii.  11,  12 147 

MiCAH. 

iii.8  22 

Hab. 

ii.  4 83 

Zkch. 

iv.  6  23 

vii.  12 22 

ECCLUS. 

V.  11 ;  xix.  6  ;  xxviii.  13- 
26  ;  xli.  22 136 

WisD.  OF  Sol. 
ii.  4;  12-20  136 

Matt. 

ui.  11  23,24 

iv.  19 17 

iv.  23 290 

vi.  33 136 

viii.  10-12  9 

viu.  10,11 154 

ix.  15 9 

ix.  28 17 

X.  40 9 

xi.  28-30  17 

xii.  39,  41 9 

xii.  4G 130 

xiii.  25 202 

xiii.  55 130 

xvi.  16-18 17 

xvi.  18  92 

xvi.  21-23 9 

xvii.  9 10 

xvii.  19 9 

xviii.  17 92 

xviii.  18 9 

xix.  21 38 

xix.  28 9 

xii.  33-41 53 


Page 

xxiii.  34-36 53 

xxiv.  4,5,  6 202 

xxiv.  7 107 

xxiv.  10,  11,  12  202 

xxiv.  15 272 

iiiv.  16-21  161,  163 

xxiv.  23,  24 202 

iiviii.  9  12,  13 

xxviii.  11-15 13 

xiviii.  16-18 12 

xxviii.  16-20 18 

ixviii.  17 15 

xxviu.  18-23 16 

iiviii.  19 16,35,36 

xxviii.  20 25 

ixviii.  32  18 

Mk. 

.1 290 

.8 23 

.9 271 

.  14,15  290 

.40  17 

i.  5 17 

iii.  14, 15 9 

V.  39,  40,  41  271 

vi.  3  130 

vii  3,4 271 

viii.  12 271 

viii.  31  14 

viii.  34 271 

viii.  35 290 

ix.  23 17 

ix.  .31 14 

1.29 290 

X.  34 14 

X.  37 9 

xii.  18-27 48 

xii.  42 271 

xiii.  10 290 

xui.  14 272 

liv.  9 290 

xiv.  13 271 

xiv.  28 14,18 

XV.  42 271 

xvi.  9-20 4,18 

xvi.  15 290 

Lx. 

i.  1^ 6,271 

i.  1,2  292 

i.  2 25 

i.  22  79 


336 


INDEX  OF   BIBLICAL   REFERENCES 


ii.  32 272 

iii.  1  50 

iii  2 50 

iii.  15 115 

iii.  16  23,115 

iv.  16-30  272 

iv.  24-27  9 

iv.  26 130 

vii.  9  17 

vii.  47 17 

vui.  2,  3 21 

viii.  13 202 

viii.  26 17 

ix.  52^56  61 

X.  7,8 272 

X.  22 17 

X.  33 61 

xi.  33 38 

xi.  49^1  9 

xiii.  28-30  272 

xiv.  16-24 272 

xvii.  11-19 61 

xviii.  8 202 

xix.  10 272 

ixi.  20  272 

xxii.  29,  30 10 

xxii.  19-21   272 

xxiv.  1-43 17 

xxiv.  16 15 

xxiv.  21  14 

xxiv.  23  79 

xxiv.  27  16 

xxiv.  29 12 

xxiv.  31  15 

xxiv.  34 ....  11,272 

xxiv.  36 13,  15 

xxiv.  39 13 

xxiv.  40  15 

xxiv.  43  15 

xxiv.  44-47 16 

xxiv.  44-53 4 

xxiv.  47  16,272 

xxiv.  50 19 

xxiv.  53 39 

JOH. 

i.  1 273 

i.  20-27  115 

i.  28 273 

i.  30 46 

i.  33 23 

ii.  19 9 

iii.  11 9 

iii.  14-18 17 

iii.  14,  19 9 

iii.  29 273 

iv 61 

iv.  9  61 

V.  23 17 

vi.  47-57  17 

vi.  51-56  9 

vi.  69 17 

vii.  3  130 

vii.  5  21,  1.30 

vii.  37 273 

viii.  44 273 


xiv.  26 25 

XV.  26,27 25 

xvi.  13  25 

xvii.  12,  13 10 

xviii.  31    54 

xix.  34,  36 273 

XX.,  xxi 18 

XX.  9  15 

XX.  16 12 

XI.19 13 

XX.  22,  23 16 

XX.  26  15 

XX.  27  13,  15 

XX.  30,31 299 

XX.  31  304,  306 

xxi.  1  15 

xxi.  3 18 

xxi.  4 13,  15 

xxi.  14  11,  15 

xxi.  18,  19  276,278 

xxi.  20 273 

xxi.  24  273,303 

Acts. 

i.  Itoviii.  3 7 

i.  1,2 6,271 

i.  2 26 

i.  3-6 146 

i.  3 16 

i.  4^ 19 

i.  4 12,  13 

i.  6-8 12 

i.  6,  8-11 19 

i.  8.. 61 

i.  12-14 21 

i.  14  23,  130 

i.  15-26 24 

i.  15  21,  104 

i.  16 146 

i.  20 25 

i.  21 290 

i.  22 11,290 

i.  23  69,  146 

i.  24  44 

ii.  1^7 8 

ii.  1 27 

ii.  4 31 

ii.  7-11 28 

ii.  7 22 

ii.  8 28,31 

ii.  9 206 

ii.  10 226 

ii.  11 28,31 

u.  14 18 

ii.  15-21 29 

ii.  16-18 44 

ii.  17 30 

ii.  18 33 

ii.  19 44 

ii.  20 44,200 

ii.  21 44,45 

ii.  22-24 29,290 

ii.  22 25,  30,271 

ii.  23 30,44,115 

ii.24-32 10 

u.  25-31 29 


iu27 115 

ii.  31 11,15,  115 

ii.  32-36 29 

ii.  32 12 

ii.  33 30,44,45 

ii.  34 19 

ii.  38 36,44,115 

ii.  39-42 25 

ii.  39 44 

ii.  41 29 

u.  42 25,35,42,106 

ii.  43  36 

ii.  45 37 

ii.  46  35,37,39 

ii.  47 35 

iii.  1  to  iv.  37 8 

iii.  1 39,48 

iii.  2  48 

iii.  6,7, 36 

iii.  11 39 

iii.  12-26  42 

iii.  13-15  18 

iii.  13 30,44,45,115 

iii.  14 30,44,45 

iii.  15 10,  12,44 

iii.  17 115 

iii.  18 44,115 

iii.  19 30,44 

iii.  20 44 

iii.  21 20,44 

iii.  23 44,  45 

iii.  36 44 

iv.  2  42 

iv.  4  47 

iv.  6,8-12  48 

iv.  9  36 

iv.  10 10,  18 

iv.  12 44,45 

iv.  20 42 

iv.  23-30  49 

iv.  23-37  37 

iv.  27    44,45 

iv.  29,  30,  33 36 

iv.  34,  35 38 

iv.  36  36 

V.  1-16 8 

V.  1-11 40 

V.  6,  10 40 

V.  11 92 

V.  12-16 36 

V.  12-14,12 39 

V.  14 47 

V.  17^2 8 

V.  17,  18 49 

V.  20 39 

V.  28 30,42,  49 

V.  30 30 

V.  31 44,115 

V.  32 44 

V.  34-39  31 

V.  36,37 48 

V.  42 42 

vi.  1-8  8 

vi.  1  38,39,  104 

vi.  2 35,  42,  104 

vi.  4 25,42 

vi.  7 39,47,104 


INDEX  OF  BIBLICAL  REFERENCES 


337 


Page 

vi.  8 3G,  51 

vi.  9to  viii.  3  8 

vi.  9 28,36,40,51,72 

vi.  13  M,  91 

vi.  14 54 

vii 51 

vii.  14,22,23,30 52 

vii.  38 92 

vii.  44-50 54 

vii.  44-52 50 

vii.  56 20 

vii.  58  54,68 

viii.  1-3  30 

viii.  1  61 

viu.  3   55,  72 

vui.  4^0 59 

viii.  4  to  xii.  25 59 

viii.  4  to  xiv.  28 59 

viii.  4  61,  226 

viii.  5  61 

viii.  15 63 

viii.  16 36 

viu.  26-39  64 

viii.  38 36 

viii.  40 65 

ix.  1-30 59 

ix.  1  72 

ix.  2  47,72,104 

ii.  3-18 75 

ix.  7  75 

ix.  10  47,79,  104 

ix.  17 63,76 

ix.  19-30  85 

ix.  19 104 

ix.  20 81 

ix.  26-30  87 

ix.  26 104 

ix.  27  26,  76,131 

ix.  30.. 104 

ix.  31toxi.  18 59 

ix.  31,32-42 91 

ix.  32 66,  95 

X 96 

X.  3 79 

X.  15 96 

X.  23 104 

X.  28 30 

X.  32  65 

X.  37-43 290 

X.  38 271 

X.  41  11,12,25 

X.  42 44 

X.  43 97,115 

X.  44 63 

X.  46 30,  32 

X.  47 30 

X.  48 36 

xi.  1-17 97 

xi.  2  91 

xi.  5 79 

xi.  18 9.8 

xi.  19-30  60 

xi.  19 65,  113 

xi.  20 101 

xi.  22 103 

xi.  24,25,26,26-30  104 

xi.  28 107 


xi.  29 108 

xi.  30 42,92,94,  95,  141, 

108,  110 

xii 60,99,315 

xii.  2  130 

xii.  3 315 

xii.  9 79 

xii.  12 38 

xii.  17 100,  130,  131 

xii.  20-23 100 

lu.  24 110 

xii.  25 110 

liii.,  xiv 319 

xiii.  1 105,  111 

xiU.  2  Ill 

xiii.  5  112 

xiii.  8-11,  9,  12,  13  113 

xiU.  14,  16-25, 16-41 114 

xiii.  16 122 

xiii.  24, 25, 26-37, 27, 28 .  115 

xiii.  31  18 

xiii.  33-35,  37,  38-41 115 

xiii.  39 83,  117 

liu.  43,  50 122 

xiv.  3 118 

xiv.  4 26,88,  112 

xiv.  8 119 

xiv.  12 113 

xiv.  14 26,88,  112 

xiv.  15-17 193 

xiv.  15-18,  15,16,  17 119 

xiv.  19,22 120 

xiv.  23 94 

xiv.  27  121 

XV.  1-35 125 

XV.  1 140,209 

IV.  2 ., 141 

XV.  3-5 143 

XV.  3 142 

XV.  5  99,140,145,161 

IV.  6-10 182 

XV.  6-29 143 

XV.  6 94,95,  144 

XV.  7-11 98,146 

XV.  7  290 

XV.  12-21  131 

XV.  12^0  186 

IV.  12 147 

XV.  13-21  144,  147 

XV.  13  130,  148 


14. 
XV.  15  . 
XV.  16  . 
XV.  17  . 

XV.  18  . 


148 
146 
,186 
148 
186 


XV.  19,  22-29  148 

XV.  22  94,  144 

XV.  23 94,146,148 

XV.  24 141 

XV.  28 146 

XV.  29 148 

XV.  30 186 

XV.  32 105,179 

XV.  36  toxxviii.  31...  169, 177 

XV.  36,37-39 179 

IV.  37 69 

XV.  38 U3 

22 


Page 

IV.  39 155 

XV.  40 179 

XV.  41 90 

xvi.  1 119,  179 

xvi.  3 119,  180 

ivi.  4  151 

xvi.  6 180,181,204 

xvi.  8-10 185 

xvi.  10-16 5 

ivi.  10,  11 185 

xvi.  20 185,  186 

xvi.  21,  35 185 

xvi.  37 179,  186 

xvi.  38  185 

xvi.  39  186 

xvi.  40 185,186 

xvii.  1,  2,  3,  4 188 

ivii.  6 188,190 

xvii.  7 190 

ivU.  11 190,319 

xvii.  12,  13,  14,  15 190 

xvii.  18 191 

ivii.  23-29 192 

ivii.  26 119 

ivii.  27 70 

xvii.  28  70,  193 

xvii.  34 193 

iviii.  2 194,  318 

iviii.  3 194,  234,  254 

xviii.  5 191,  195 

ivui.  8 196,252 

xviii.  9,  10 196 

xviii.  11 194 

xviii.  12-17 197 

xviii.  13 196 

iviii.  18 194,203 

xviu.  19  203 

xviii.  19-23 184 

iviii.  20,21 203 

xviii.  23  .    181,  184,  204,  319 

iviii.  24-28 205 

xviii.  25 115 

iviii.  26 178,  194 

lix.  10 207,  241 

lii.  13-19,23^1 207 

lix.  26 207,241 

xix.  27,  31 207 

XI.  1  224 

XX.  2 226,  319 

XX.  3  226,231,319 

XX.  4-6 231 

IX.  4 207,226 

XX.  5  to  iii.  18  5 

XX.  6  317 

IX.  7  toixi.  16 231 

XX.  7  35 

XI.  15 256 

II.  16 30,231 

XX.  17-38  231 

XX.  17 94,250 

XX.  18-21 206 

XI.  20 206 

II.  22,  23 228 

XX.  26,27 206 

II.  28. 250 

IX.  29,30 256 

IX.  31  206,255,319 


338 


INDEX   OF  BIBLICAL   REFERENCES 


Page 

XX.  34 234 

XX.  38. 255 

xii.  3 69 

ixi.  4  231 

ixi.  8 6,  65 

xxi.  9-16 231 

xxi.9,  10  105 

xxi.  17  toxxii.  29 232 

xxi.  18-21 125 

xxi.  18 6,130,303 

xxi.  20-25  160 

xxi.  20 161 

xxi.  21 158,162 

xxi.  24,  25 162 

xxi.  29  256 

xxi.  38  68 

xxii.  1-21 59 

xxii.  3  70,  73 

xxii.  4 55,  104 

xxii.  5 18,68,  72 

xxii.  6-16,  9 75 

xxii.  14,  16  76 

xxii.  17-20 18 

xxii.  17-21 89 

xxii.  28 68 

xxii.  30 232 

xxiii.  1-6 232 

xxiii.  6 68,  70 

xxiii.  7-10 232 

xxiii.  11,  12-30, 233 

xxiii.  16 68 

xxiii.  31-35  233 

xxiv.  1-9 233 

xxiv.  5  105,  254 

xxiv.  10-21  233 

xxiv.  10 310 

xxiv.  22,  23-25,  26 233 

xxiv.  27 233,  319 

xxv.1-3 234 

XXV.  1  316,  319 

XXV.  4,  5,  6-8,9-12. 234 

XXV.  13 235,  319 

XXV.  14-22 235 

XXV.  23toxxvi.  32 235 

xxvi.  1-23 59 

xxvi.  5 70 

xxvi.  7 134 

xxvi.  9 73 

xxvi.  10 18,55,  08 

xxvi.  11  47,55,65,72 

xxvi.  12-18 75 

xxvi.  14 73,  75 

xxvi.  16 76 

xxvi.  18  115 

xxvi.  19  79 

xxvi.  24  291 

xxvi.  28  105 

xxvii.  1  to  xxviii.  16  ...  5,  235 

xxvii.  8 255 

xxvii.  12. 319 

xxviii.  11,  12 319 

xxviii.  16 236 

xxviii.  17-20  238 

xxviii.  20 238 

xxviii.  21 195 

xxviii.  22 195,  227 

xxviii.  23 239 


Page 

xxviii.  30 236,  239,  319 

xxviii.  31  236,  239,  253 


Rom. 

i.  1^ 290 

i.  3,4 251 

i.  5 228 

i.  6 227 

i.  8 226 

i.  9,  10  227 

i.  13  226,227 

i.  16  229,  291 

i.  17 83,229,291 

i.  18  to  iii.  20  229 

i.  20-23,  20,24 119 

ii.  16  227,291 

ii.  17  toiu.  20 227 

ii.  17 228 

iii.  21-26 83,  229 

iii.  25 119 

iii.  27  toiv.  24 229 

iv.  7  115 

V.  1-11,  12-21  229 

vi 229 


vi.  1-11 

269 

vi.  3  

30 

vi.  9,  10  . 

.   266 

vi.  12,  13  

vi.  17 

126 

227 

229 

vii.  9-11,  13-25... 
vii.  12 

74 

175 

229 

viii.  3 .. 

.  .   281 

230 

viii.  29  

281 

viii.  34  

266 

ix.-xi 

...  116,  230 
230 

ix.  5 

251 

ix.  25  .. 

2S1 

X -     230 

X.  3  

116 

X.  9  

174 

xi 230 

xi.  13,  30  227 

xi.  36 266 

xii.  2  281 

xii.  6  105 

xii.  7  106,  227 

xii.  8  227 


xii.  17  . 

80 

xii.  19 

''66 

xii.  20 

SO 

xiv.  1-14  

fn 

007 

xiv.  14  

130 

xiv.  13-23.. 

151 

xiv.  21  

153 

XV.  3 

80 

XV.  8-13,  10,  15,  16 
XV.  17-21 

227 
2?,8 

XV.  19  

XV.  20-24 

..18 

226 
?76 

XV.  23  . 

997 

XV.  24 

227 

264 

Page 

25-28 226 

26  18,  152,  182 

27 18,  152 

28 227,228 

30,  31 228 

1 196 

3-5 227 

3 194,227 

5 182 

5-7... 227 

7  26,  68,227 

10,  11  239 

13,  14,  15 227 

21  68 

21-23 226 

23 252 

25 291 


I.  COE. 


i.  10  toiv.  21  

i.  11 

i.  12 

i.  14 

i.  18-31 

i.  21 

i.  23 

i.  26  196, 

ii.  1^ 116,  196, 

ii.  1 

ii.  2 193, 

ii.  3 195, 

ii.  6-16 

ii.  6 

ii.  8 


iii.  1,2 

iii.  4-6  

iii.  8  

iii.  13 

iv.  1-5,  6,  7-13, 14-21  .... 

iv.  9-13 

iv.  15  196, 

iv.  17  206, 

v 

V.  5  

V.  9  

V.  9-11  

vi.  1-8,9-20  

vi.  9-11 

vi.  18 

vii.  1  to  xi.  1  

vii 

vii.  1  

vii.  3-5  

vii.  10 80, 

vii.  11  217, 

vii.  12-16  

vii.  17-24  

vii.  26 

viii 151, 

viii.  1  to  xi.  1  

viii.  4-6 

viii.  4  

viii.  7-13 


.215 
.215 
.214 
.205 
.196 
,216 
,  70 
196 
,252 
216 
193 
195 
196 
216 
70 
115 
216 
197 
205 
216 
200 
216 
207 
290 
214 
217 
200 
213 
214 
217 
174 
151 
217 
217 
214 
217 
217 
252 
218 
244 
218 
218 
218 
153 
119 
153 
218 


INDEX  OF   BIBLICAL  REFEKENCES 


339 


Page 

ix.  1 11,25,20,59,77, 

95,  174 

ix.  2  174 

ix.  5 96,177,269,282 

ix.  6 177,  179,  183 

U.  12 290 

ix.  14 80,290 

ix.  17 77 

ix.  18 290 

ix.  19-23  151 

ix.  20,  21 155 

ix.  23 290 

X.  12 31 

X.  IStoxi.  1 218 

X.  23-33 151 

X.  27 272 

X.  28 106 

X.  32 153 

xi.  2  174 

xi.  2toxiv.  40 218 

xi.  18-29  35 

xi.  23 106,291 

xi.  23-25 80,272 

xii 30 

xii.  10 105 

xii.  11 266 

xii.  23 95 

xii.  28 63,  105,  106 

xii.  29. 105 

xii.  to  xiv 219 

xiii.  2 105 

xiv 30,31 

xiv.  6 105 

xiv.  10,11,14,21,28....    32 

xiv.  26 94 

xiv.  27  107 

xiv.  29,  32 105 

xiv.  34  219 

xiv.  37 105,  106 

XV 220 

XV.  1-8 11 

XV.  1-11 220 

XV.  1 290,  291 

XV.  3-8 12,  80,  81 

XV.  4  115 

XV.  5-7  12,  115 

XV.5 272 

XV.  7 11,21,26,130.  131 

XV.  4-8 10,  11 

XV.  8-10 26 

IV.  8-11 174 

XV.  8 59,77 

XV.  10 77 

XV.  12,  12-19  220 

XV.  15,20 15 

XV.  20-28  221 

XV.  27 266 

XV.  29-34 221 

XV.  32 207 

XV.  35-58 221 

XV.  47 81 

XV.  49 11 

xvi 221 

ivi.  1 182,  213 

xvi.  5 223 

xvi.  8 206 

ivL  9  207 


Page 

xvi.  10 206,214 

xvi.  15  182 

xvi.  17  214 

xvi.  19 194,207,227 

II.  COE. 

i.  1-7 223 

i.  1  196 

i.  8 182 

i.  8-14 222 

i.  13 223 

i.  14 200 

i.  16  182,  223 

i.  17 222 

i.  to  vii 225 

ii.  3,4 223 

ii.  5 222 

ii.  5-11 224 

ii.  9 223 

ii.  10 222 

ii.  12 182,223 

ii.  13 223,  224 

ii.  14-17  174,  223 

iii 225 

iii.  1 152,222 

iv.  4  244 

iv.  7-10 207 

V.  21  80 

vi.  4,5 207 

vi.  13 196 

vii.  5  224 

vii.  6,7,  8  223 

vii.  9-12 224 

vu.  9-16. 223 

vii.  11,  12 222 

vii.  13-15  223 

viii.,  ix 225 

viii ; 187 

viii.  1  182 

viii.  9 80,  251 

viii.  18-22  224 

viii.  20  266 

viii.  23 26 

ix.  2  182 

ix.  12 161 

X.  to  xiii 225 

X.  1 80 

X.  2 222 

X.  5 25 

X.  7 215,  222 

X.  16 276 

xi 222 

xi.  3  222 

xi.  4  291 

xi.  13,  14 222 

xi.  16 227 

xi.  18 223 

xi.  22 215 

xi.  23-27  90 

xi.  23toxiii.  2 225 

xi.  24toxu.  9 59 

xi.  26,27 114 

xi.  28  207,208 

xi.  32 85,86,  318 

xi.  33 85 

xii.  1  78 

xii.  1-9 90 


Page 

xii.  2-5 142 

xii.  7  78,  124 

xii.  12 206 

xii.  14,21 222 

xiii 222 

xiu.  1,2 222 

Oal. 

i.  1  26,  112 

i.  6 208 

i.  7  291 

i.  9 204,  208 

i.  11 291 

i.  11-15 20 

i.  11-17 174 

i.  11-21 212 

i.  12  25,79 

i.  11  toii.  21 210 

i.  11,  12 210 

i.  13  72,73,210 

i.  13-24 59 

i.  14  70,73,210 

i.  15  77,79,210 

i.  16 77,79,81,  109,210 

i.  10-24 85 

i.  17  86,109 

i.  17-19  18 

i.  17-24 210 

i.  18-23 87 

i.  18 319 

i.  19 26,  130 

i.  20 92 

i.  22 18,  30 

i.  23 90 

i.  24 129 

ii.  1-10...  18, 88, 108, 141,  209 

ii.  1  183,210,319 

ii.  2....78,  81,  143,  144,147, 

210,  291 

ii.  2-5 144 

Ii.  3 143,  144 

ii.  3-5 210 

ii.  4  141,143,144,209 

ii.  6      144,152 

ii.  6-10 210 

ii.  7 98,  144,  147,  291 

ii.  8 98 

ii.  9 130,131,  144,  183, 

276  302 
ii.  10  38,  99,  ]08,'l09, 

142,  145 

ii.  11-21 210 

ii.  11 156,275 

ii.  12  98,  131,154,15.-. 

ii.  13 li^3 

ii.  14-21  81,  82,  156 

ii.  15 147 

ii.  16 147 

ii.  20 84 

iii 210 

iii.  1 116,184,210 

iii.  2-5,6,7-9,10  210 

iii.  8,11,16,29  83 

iii.  11-14,  15-18,  19,  20, 

21-24,  25-29  211 

iii.  13 82 

iii.  19,  22 175 


340 


INDEX   OF  BIBLICAL   REFERENCES 


iii.  27 36 

iv 210,211 

iv.  1-11 211 

iv.  4  251 

iv.  5  230 

iv.  10 209 

iv.  12-20  211 

iv.  12 174 

iv.  13 183,  184,208 

iv.  13-20 183 

iv.  14 183,  184 

iv.  17 204,  209 

iv.  20 184 

iv.  12  to  v.  1 211 

V.  1 183 

v.  2-12 211 

V.  6 106 

V.  10 204,213 

V.  13-25 211 

V.  14 126 

V.  22,23 126,  174 

V.  19to  vi.  10 174 

V.  26to  vi.  5 211 

vi.  6-10, 11-18 211 

vi.  9,  10 126 

Epb. 

i.  1 246,247 

i.  3 247,280 

i.  4 280 

i.  6 247 

i.  7 115,247 

i.  10,11 247 

i.  13 291 

i.  15 246 

i.  19  247,  280 

i.  20 20,247,266 

i.  21 20,247,280 

i.  22,  23  247 

ii.  6 247 

ii.  11-22 152 

ii.  14-22 277 

ii.  20 95,105,106 

ii.  20-22 280 

ii.  21  249 

iii.  2,4 246 

iii.  5  105,277 

iii.  6 291 

iii.  7  77 

ill.  10 247 

iv.  1-16 276 

iv.  3  249 

iv.  11 95,105,  106 

iv.  11-16 258 

vi.  5  252 

vi.  5-9 246 

vi.  12 247 

vi.  15  291 

vi.  19 239,291,297 

vi.  20 236,  239 

vi.  21 240,241 

vi.  22 241 

Cot. 

i 247 

i.4  243 


i.  5 247,291 

i.  6 241,  242,243 

i.  7 207,240,241 

i.  8 240 

i.  9,  10  243 

i.  12 242,247 

i.  13  243,244 

i.  13-20 305 

i.  14 115,243,  247 

i.  15 266 

i.  15-17 251 

i.  15-19 242 

i.  16 244,247,266 

i.  18  244,247 

i.  19  244 

i.  20  .  243,  247 

i.  21-29 242 

i.  22  243 

i.  23 243,291 

i.  26  243 

ii.  1  207,241 

ii.  2,3,5 243 

ii.  6. 174 

u.  7,8 242,243 

U.  9 244,247,251,305 

U.  9-11 243 

ii.  10 243,  244 

ii.  11 242 

ii.  12 247 

ii.  12-14 243 

ii.  14 242 

ii.  15 244 

ii.  16,  18  242 

ii.  19 242,  243 

ii.  20-22 242 

ii.  21 247 

ii.  22  toiv.  1 246 

ii.  23 242 

iii.  1  20 

iii.  4  281 

iii.  22 252 

iv.  3,  4 239 

iv.  7 202,240,241 

iv.  9-14 240 

iv.  10 6,110,  240 

iv.  12 241 

iv.  13  207,  241 

iv.  14 6 

iv.  16 247,297 

Phil. 

i.  1 41,187,240,250 

i.  5,7 187,  291 

i.  9 20 

i.  12-14 239 

i.  13  236,237 

i.  15-18 240 

i.  25  187,240,250,253 

i  27 187 

i.  28-30 188 

ii.  5-11  251,305 

ii.  7  80 

ii.  8  80,  266 

ii.  9 187,266 

ii.  12 187 

ii.  14-16 162 


Page 

ii.  19 240,  256 

ii.  24 240,  253 

ii.  25  26,  187,  241 

iii.  4-7  69 

iii.  5 68,70 

iu.  6,  9 116 

iii.  17 174 

iii.  21 261 

iv.  1  187 

iv.  2 188,  251 

iv.  3  187,  188,251 

iv.  10,  14 187 

iv.  14-18  250 

iv.  15 234 

iv.  18 234,240 

iv.  22 239 

I.  Thxss. 

i.  1  197,198 

i.  2 198 

i.  3  189,  198 

i.  4 198 

i.  5 189,290 

i.  7 104 

i.  8 188 

i.  9 116,  119,189,234 

i.  10 20,  116,  189,202 

i.  12. 198 

ii.  1-12,  1-13 198 

ii.  1  174 

u.  2  290 

ii.  3-8 189 

ii.  4 290 

u.  6 189 

ii.  8 290 

ii.  9  189,199,280 

ii.  10 189,  199 

ii.  11 116,  189 

ii.  12 116,  189,  202 

ii.  13  174,  189 

ii.  13-16 198 

ii.  14  18,  152,  190 

ii.  15,  16 197 

ii.  19  189,202 

iii.  1,1-6 190 

iii.  2  189,  190,290 

iii.  4  116 

iii.  4-7  194 

iii.  6 195,197 

iii.  13 202 

iii.  15 189 

iv.  1 174 

iv.  1-7  189 

iv.  1-8  198,  199 

iv.  1-12 174 

iv.  2,  5 198 

iv.  7  189 

iv.  9-12 198 

iv.  11 189,198,  199 

iv.  12 198,  199 

iv.  13-18 199,200 

iv.  14 10,  11 

iv.  15 78,189 

iv.  15-18 202 

iv.  16 20 

iv.  17  198,202 

V.  1 80 


INDEX  OF   BIBLICAL   REFERENCES 


341 


V.  2  200 

V.  4 202 

V.  9 198,202 

V.  10 20*2 

V.  12  106,  199 

V.  13 199 

V.  23 189 

V.  27  189,  198 

n.  Thbss. 

i 201 

i.  1  197 

i.  2,  3 198 

i.  4  196,  198,200 

i.  5  198,  200 

i.  7  20,202 

i.  8 198,290 

i.  9 202 

i.  10 104,  174 

i.  11 198 

ii.  1 198,201 

ii.  2 107,198,200,201 

ii.  3,4 201 

ii.  5 189,201 

ii.  6-12 201 

ii.  8 202 

ii.  12 174 

ii.  13 198,201 

ii.  14 116,  201 

ii.  15 174,189,198 

ii.  15-17  201 

u.  16 116 

ui.  1-3 201 

iii.  2  174 

iii.  4,5,6-16. 201 

ui.  6 106,174,189,198 

iii.  6-12 200 

iii.  7  174 

iii.  7-10 198 

iU.  8,  9 189 

iii.  12 198 

iii.  14..106, 107,174,189, 198 
iii.  17,  18 201 


I.  Tm. 

i.  2  119, 

i.  3  171,  182,255, 

i.  4 170,  172, 

i.5 

i.  6.. 

i.  G-10  

i.  7  

1.8,9 

i.lO 

i.  11  

i.  11-16 

i.  12 77, 

i.  13 72,73,77, 

i.  14  174, 

i.  15 

i.  16 77, 

i.  18  119, 

i.  19  170: 

i.  20  170 

ii.  7  

U.  9 


,170, 

174, 
.  175, 


174 
256 
174 
174 
63 
202 
172 
175 
175 
291 
170 
175 
115 
175 
175 
174 
180 
173 
171 
170 
173 


Page 

ii.  12 : 219 

ii.  15 174 

iii.  1  173 

iii.  1-10 170 

iii.  2  258 

iii.  5,6,7 175 

iii.  8  41 

iii.  12 175,250 

iii.  13 175 

iii.  14 255 

iii.  14-16  257 

iii.  15 170,  174 

iu.  16 297 

iv.  1  172,173 

iv.  1-3 170,202 

iv.  3 174,175 

iv.  4  175 

iv.  6 170,173,174 

iv.  7  170,172 

iv.  10 174 

iv.  12 170,174 

iv.  14 180 

iv.  17  250 

V.  1-22 170 

V.  17 106,173,258 

V.  18 272 

vi.  1,2 175 

vi.  3  291 

vi.  3-5 170,202 

vi.  4  170 

vi.  9 296 

vi.  10  173,296 

vi.  11 170,  174 

vi.  12  174,175 

vi.  13 80 

vi.  14.. 175 

vi.  17-19  296 

vi.  18,  19 174 

vi.  20.. 170,  172 

vi.  21  173 


n.  Tm. 

i 260 

i.  1 175 

i.  2  119 

i.  3 72,  174 

i.5 119,  120,  174 

i.  6  170,  180 

i.  8 259,291 

i.  9  175 

i.  10  291 

i.  11  77 

i.  12  259 

i.  13 174,175 

i.  14  175 

i.  15  182,202,2.59 

i.  15-18 171 

i.  17  259 

ii  261 

ii.  1  119,  170,  175 

ii.  2  106,170,174,258 

ii.  4 170 

ii.  8  175,291 

ii.  9 2.59 

U.  10,  11  175 

ii.  12,14,16 170 


Page 

ii.  18 170,172,  174 

ii.  19 175 

u.  22 170,  174 

ii.  23 170 

ii.  26  175 

iii 261 

iii.  1-7  170 

iii.  1-8 202 

iii.  1-9 170,270 

iii.  1  172 

iii.  8  174 

iii.  10 119 

iu.  11  59,  119 

iii.  12 175 

ui.  13 170,172 

iii.  14 170 

iii.  15 119,174,175 

iv.  1-5 261 

iv.  3 170,171,  174 

iv.  4 171,172 

iv.  6-9  261 

iv.  6  259 

iv.  7  170,174 

iv.  8  175 

iv.  9  194,260 

iv.  10  213,  259 

iv.  10-21 171 

iv.  10-22  261 

iv.  11  252,259 

iv.  16,17 259 

iv.  18 175 

iv.  20 256 

iv.  21 259,260 


Titus. 

i.  1 

i.4 

i.5  .171,173,250,255, 

i.  5-9 

i.  7 173, 

i.  9 174, 

i.  10-16 

i.  10 170, 

i.  12 

i.  13 

i.  14 

i.lO 

ii.  1,  2 

ii.  7  

ii.  9,  10,  11  

u.  12 

ii.  13 175, 

ii.  14 174, 

iii.  1,2,4-7,5,6,7,9... 

iii.  8  

iii.  9 170,172, 

iii.  9-11,10 

iu.  12 171,255,256, 

iii.  13 171. 

iii.  15 


173 
174 
256 
170 
250 
258 
170 
172 
70 
173 
172 
174 
174 
170 
175 
174 
2C6 
175 
175 
174 
175 
170 
257 
257 
174 


Prilkm. 

1  240 

10 239,240,241 

12,19 241 

22 240,266 


342 


INDEX   or  BIBLICAL  REFERENCES 


23 241 

24 240 

HSB. 

i.  1  toii.  4 288 

i.  1 266,287 

i.  2-4 266,305 

ii.  1-4  164 

ii.  1 165 

ii.  3 265,  266 

ii.  4 36,265,266 

ii.  5-18 288 

ii.  9,  10,  11    266 

iii.  1  toiv.  13 288 

Ui.  1-6  266 

iii.  12 165 

iv.  1 164 

iv.  2 265 

iv.  14 165 

iv.  14to  vii.  28 288 

V.  12  to  vi.  2  165 

v.  12-14 164 

v.  12 165,  266,  267 

vi.  1  266,287 

vi.  4-6 165 

vi.  8,9  164 

vi.  10  164,  266 

vii.  11  165,  266 

vii.  19,25,26 266 

viii.  4-1 267 

viii.  5 267,288 

viii.  tox 288 

ix.  10,27,28 266 

X.  4 266 

X.  5.. 165 

X.  10,  14 266 

X.  23-25 165 

1.25 267,286 

X.  29,  30 266 

X.  32  265 

1.32-34 266,267 

X.  35-39  164 

X.  35 165 

xi 287,289 

xii 289 

xii.  4,  27  2G7 

xii.  18-24  266 

xii.  28. 287 

xiii.  7 265,  267 

xiii.  9 266 

xiii.  10-14 267 

xiii.  13 165,266,267 

xiii.  14  165,267 

xiii.  22  288 

xiii.  24 267 

Jas. 
i.  1  ...  126,  148,269,281,282 

i.  2 125,  126,  280 

i.  2-4 135 

i.  3. 280,281,  282 

i.  3  9 281 

i.  4 126 

i.  5 126,  135,  136,281 

i.  6 126 

i.  G-8,  9-11  135 

i.  8,9 126,281 


Page 

10 125 

.  10-12 281 

11  125,282 

.  12 126 

.  18 125,136,282 

20 126,  136 

21 125,126,135,136, 

281,  282 

i.  23  281 

ii.  1-13 126.  135 

ii.  1  126,  134,  281 

ii.  2 38,  66,  92 

ii.  2-6 134 

ii.  3 38 

ii.  4 136,  281,  282 

ii.  5  126,  148,281,  282 

ii.  6 126,281 

ii.  7  126,  148,261 

ii.  8  136 

ii.  9 282 

ii.  10 136,  282 

ii.  12 126,  137 

ii.  13 126 

ii.  14-26    126,  135 

ii.  15 281 

ii.  21,22,25 282 

ii.  23 136 

ii.  24 281 

iii 136 

iii.  1  126 

iii.  2  136 

iii.  9-12 134 

iu.  12,  16,  21 281 

iii.  21,22,  24 282 

iv.  1-10 134,  161 

iv.  1-12  136 

iv.  1  281,282 

iv.  2 281 

iv.  4   282 

iv.  5  126,  136,  138 

iv.  6  125,  136,  280 

iv.  7  125,281 

iv.  10  126 

iv.  11  281 

iv.  12 137 

iv.  13  281,  282 

iv.  13  to  V.  8    136 

iv.  14 136 

iv.  18,  19,  20 282 

v.  1-6 134 

V.  1  281,282 

V.  2  126 

V.  4  281 

V.  6  136 

V.  7  137 

V.  8 126,137 

V.  9 126,  137,  281 

V.  9-20  136 

V.  10 126,281 

V.  12 126 

V.  14 66,  92,  126 

V.  19 148 

V.  20 125,148,  280 


I.  Pet. 
134,  213,  252,  278,  281 
268 


i.  1 

Ii.  2 


i.  3 

i.  4..  .  . 

.268,271, 

280,  281 
268,  280 

i.  5  .. 

280 

i.  6.. 

125,  280 

i.  7 

i.  8  .. 

.  125,  267, 

278,  281 
268,  281 

i.  9  ..  .  . 

268 

i.  12 

...   278 

i.  13  

i.  14 

268,  278 
278,  281 

i.  17. 

278 

i.  18  

268,  278 

i.  20  . 

280 

i.  21  

i.  24,  25.. 

268 

278,  281 
125 

ii.  1  

125 

ii.  5. 

278,  280 

ii.  6. 

268,  280 

ii.  9-11  ... 

278 

ii.  10 

ii.  12,  13-15,  16-18  . 
ii.  13-25  

278,  281 

278 

246 

ii.  18 

252 

ii.  20 

268 

ii.  21,  23 
iii.  7  

268,  281 
..  .   278 

iii.  8  

280 

iii.  15.... 
iii.  16 .. 

267,  278 
278 

iii.  17 

279 

iii.  22 

280 

iv.  3. 

278 

iv.  5 

268 

iv.  8 

125 

iv.  12 

iv.  16  .... 
iv.  17  .. 

■■.■.■.V.V.ios 

.  267,  279 

267,  279 

268 

V.  1. 

268,  281 

V.  4  . 

280 

V.  5 

v.  6,  8... 

.  125,  268 

,  280,  281 
...   125 

V.  9  . 

279 

V.  10 

268 

V.  12 

281 

V.  13  

.  267,  276 

II.  Pet. 

i.  3,  4,  10,  11  268 

i.  14  268,284 

i.  16,17 271 

i.  16-18,19-21,  19  268 

ii 268 

ii.  1  to  iii.  3 284 

ii.  1  268,  269,284 

ii.  3 268 

ii.  4 269,284 

ii.  9  268 

ii.  10,  11,  12 269,284 

ii.  13 268,269,284 

ii.  15 285 

iii.  1  107,268,284,285 

iii.  2  107,268,285 

iii.  3  202 

iii.  4,  7,  10,  12-14,  13  .   268 

iii.  15  268,284 

iii.  16 107,268,284 


INDEX  OF  BIBLICAL  REFERENCES 


343 


i.  1-3  .. 

T. 

JOH. 

Page 

303 

i.  1-4  .. 

306 

i.  1  .. 

274 

i.  3,  4 

107 

i.  3-5  .. 

274 

i.  5  to  ii. 
ii.  7  27 

6.. 

306 

306 

ii.  18 

.  ..  299 

ii.  18-27 
ii.  19  . 

202,  307 
299 

ii.  22.... 
ii.  24  .. 
ii.  28  to 

299 

ii.  24 

300,307 

303 

306 

306 

iv.  1  .. 

299 

iv.  2.... 
iv.  3. 

..106 

300,307 
299 

iv.  6 

100 

iv.  26  .. 

303 

V.  1-12  . 

306 

V.  6. 

299,  300 

V.  13.... 
4 

II. 

JOH. 

303,  306 
..   307 

7.. 

.  ...299 

7-11  .... 

307 

9-11  .... 

299 

9,  10  ... 

307 

III.  JoH.  Page 

4  '         299 

6. ..■.'.'.■.■ 298 

7.  298,307 

9. .■■.."" 308 

10  298 

12  308 

JUDK. 

1..  131,269 

3..'.'. 283 

4 269,283,284 

4-8 269 

5,5-8 283 

6 269,283,284 

7,8-10 283 

8 269,284 

9,  10 269,283,284 

11     283 

12 35,269,283 

12-16 283,  284 

13,  14,15,16-23 283 

17 95,283 

18,  19,20 283 

Rev. 

1.  1-3 303,309 

i.  3 105,  107 

i.  4-6 309 

i.  7 273,311 


Page 

.  9 303 

.  10 297 

.11 107,298 

i 202 

i.  1  298 

u.  2 299 

i.  6 299,309 

i.  8  298 

i.  9  273,309 

i.  10,  13 309 

i.  14,  15,20-24 299,309 

ii 202 

iii.  9,  10 309 

iu.  17 296 

V.  6 273 

vi.  5,  6 107 

vii.  9 295 

X.  7  105 

xi.  18 105 

xiii 202 

xui.  8 273 

xvi.  6 105 

ivii.,  xviii 202 

xviii.  20,24 105 

xix.  13  273 

ixi.  2,9 273 

xxii.  6,  9 105 

xxii.  17  273 

xxii.  18,  19 107  ^ 

xxii.  20 sup 


1 


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i-^J 


Date  Due 

0    7    3                  ' 

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r  1.0*4? 

My  2  1  V 

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HQ  ^-  tP 

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— nntrTifr^^" 

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BW960  .P98  C.3 

Christianity  in  the  apostolic  age, 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1   1012  00016  0103 


P  :h 


